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Fig. 5. Study III: asymmetry of behaviors and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) expression during social change. Changes in behavior (A, index of dominance, DI), immunoreactive GnRH neuronal soma cross-sectional area (B) and GnRH1 mRNA levels (C) during changes in social status. The x-axis indicates whether males were control territorial (T) or non-territorial (NT) or were undergoing a transition in social status for the indicated number of weeks. In all graphs, data from control NT males, 1- and 2-week NT->T transitions, control T males, and 2- and 3-week T->NT transitions are shown by open columns. Data for control NT males are plotted twice for clarity. Aggressive behaviors (A) were also measured at 1 day (filled triangles) following a transition in social status. (A) Mean aggressive behaviors are plotted as DI scores + S.E.M. (N=11 for control NT; 9 for 1 day observations, and 8, 14, 14, 12 and 6 for remaining groups, respectively), which increase slowly during social ascent (NT->T) and disappear within 1 day (filled triangle) during social descent (T->NT). (B) Preoptic immunoreactive GnRH neuronal soma cross-sectional areas are shown as a percentage of control T area, indicated by the dotted line. When NT males become territorial, these neurons grow to T size within 1 week. It takes 3 weeks for neurons to return to NT sizes during social descent. Values are means + S.E.M. (N=11 for control NT; N=8, 14, 14, 12 and 6 for remaining groups, respectively). (C) GnRH1 transcript levels, normalized for loading, are plotted as optical densities. The time course of changes in GnRH1 levels is also asymmetrical and generally parallels changes in neuron size. Values are means + S.E.M. (N=7 for control NT; 4, 3, 7, 3, 2 and 2 for remaining groups, respectively). See Results for statistical comparisons and P-values.