ReviewEndocrine, neural and pharmacological aspects of sexual satiety in male rats
Section snippets
Physiological and behavioral correlates of ejaculation
Since male rats display sexual satiety after more than one ejaculation, one or several cumulative feature(s) of each ejaculation may underlie the phenomenon. Mating to ejaculation induces a reward state; in fact, the reward state created is so strong that it has been used in conditioning experiments (Crawford et al., 1993, Pfaus et al., 2001). For example, sexual activity can induce conditioned place preference (Miller and Baum, 1987). It is unknown if two or more ejaculations are any more or
Pharmacological manipulations that affect sexual satiety
Several studies were made with experimental animals using different drugs, at pharmacological doses and administered systemically, trying to establish the neurotransmitter systems involved in the inhibition of mating behavior characteristic of sexual satiety. Interestingly, the first such investigations focused on the role of endogenous opioids.
In general, opioid agonists produce a dose-dependent inhibition of masculine mating behavior (McIntosh et al., 1980, Pfaus and Gorzalka, 1987).
Possible neuroendocrine regulation of sexual satiety
Androgens, such as testosterone and 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), regulate male reproductive behavior mostly via interaction with the AR in several cerebral regions (Hull et al., 2006). In rats and other species, estrogens via the estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) also importantly regulate male copulatory behavior (Hull et al., 2006). For example, castration dramatically reduces the level of androgens and estrogens in the blood, leading to diminished AR expression, increased ERα expression and
Brain areas that may participate in sexual satiety
Several cerebral areas regulate or are associated to masculine mating behavior. Since sexual satiety results from several ejaculations, it is likely that some of these brain regions might also participate in sexual satiety. All the information regarding the cerebral regions that might participate in sexual satiety will be reviewed here: first the initial investigations that studied this matter, followed by reports of c-Fos expression associated to rat sexual satiety and finally a section
Neuroendocrine circuit that may regulate sexual satiety
The data above, taken together, suggest that the brain circuit that regulates the inhibition of mating behavior characteristic of rat sexual satiety has neurons that express the AR and/or the ERα in addition to using monoamines and/or opioids as neurotransmitters and, at least some, also express c-Fos specifically associated to sexual satiety. Many brain areas possess neurons with most of the above characteristics. Thus, we focus on the cerebral regions with changes in AR, ERα and/or c-Fos
Acknowledgements
The authors with to thank the “Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, México” for the grant F1 61187 to A.F.-G. and the fellowship 171478 to B.V.P.-F.
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