Review
Endocrine, neural and pharmacological aspects of sexual satiety in male rats

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.11.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Sexual satiety is the inhibition of masculine mating behavior produced by copulation itself. This inhibition is manifested in different ways depending upon the species, the time and the amount of sexual behavior prior to sexual satiety. Pharmacological studies indicate that monoaminergic and opioidergic compounds modify this phenomenon in the rat and other species, possibly via a final dopaminergic pathway involving sexual motivation. Reduced androgen receptor expression and/or increased estrogen receptor alpha expression in specific brain areas are associated with the inhibition of mating behavior that characterizes rat sexual satiety. Androgen receptor over-expression in the same and other brain areas coincides with a partial recovery of rat male copulatory behavior after sexual satiety. The lateral septum, medial amygdala and medial preoptic area may participate in the neuroendocrine regulation of sexual satiety, based on changes in the expression of c-Fos, androgen receptor and estrogen receptor alpha in these cerebral regions. These data suggest that changes in steroid receptors, possibly triggered by modifications in neurotransmitters, underlie at least partly the inhibition of copulatory behavior characteristic of rat sexual satiety.

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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    Present address: Departamento de Neuromorfometría, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, Insurgentes Sur 3700, Letra C, Col. Insurgentes Cuicuilco, Del. Coyoacán, México D.F., 04530, Mexico. Tel.: +52 55 1084 0900x1425; fax: +52 55 1084 3883.

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