Social influences on endocrine activity in guinea pigs, with comparisons to findings in nonhuman primates

Guinea pigs exhibit a rich and varied social organization. Studies in recen t years have demonstrated that social stimuli have widespread neuroendocrin e effects in guinea pigs. Here, effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adren al, adrenal medullary/sympathetic, and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal syste ms of both adult and developing guinea pigs ate reviewed. These systems res pond to various social variables, or factors that affect social variables, including: separation from attachment objects, housing conditions, changes in housing, the familiarity of the environment in which social interactions occur, foraging conditions, surrogate-rearing, agonistic interactions, and the establishment of dominance rank. Similarities and differences between these findings and those in nonhuman primates are discussed. It is argued t hat the guinea pig is well suited for the study of socioendocrine effects t hroughout the life span, and can provide a valuable complement to nonhuman primate research in this area. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.