Adolescence and Postpartum: Two Life Periods to Deepen Our Understanding of the Complexity of Female Rat Sexual Behavior

Abstract

The sexual behavior of the female rat has been extensively studied and used as a model for human female sexuality. The development of models that focus on sexual interaction from the female’s perspective has demonstrated the complexity of this behavior, in which motivational and affective aspects have great relevance. This review describes, from a historical perspective, some of the studies that have shed light on this complexity and presents the potential of two periods in the female’s life to expand our understanding of sexual behavior: adolescence and postpartum estrus. Cycling adolescent female rats can express sexual behavior even though some of the underlying circuitry is still developing. Therefore, this is an ideal time for studying the ontogeny of sexual behavior, the interaction of sexual and social motivations, and the neuroendocrine changes that lead to adult behavior. Female rats also show a fertile estrus a few hours after parturition. During this period, rats are simultaneously sexually and maternally motivated, making postpartum estrus an excellent model for exploring the interaction of these two social motivations. What we know so far about female sexual behavior in these unique periods of life reaffirms its richness and shows that much remains to be known.

Post-Mating Inhibition of Female Sexual Drive via Heterogeneous Neuronal Ensembles in the Medial Preoptic Area

“…This can involve both increasing and decreasing motivation to engage in sexual behavior, dependent on anticipated beneficial outcome. Rodents provide a powerful resource for studying female sexual behavior and the underlying neural basis (Agrati, 2022; Micevych and Meisel, 2017). Typically, rodent sexual behavior is divided into three periods: an appetitive, consummatory, and post-copulatory phase (Hashikawa et al, 2016; Ishii and Touhara, 2018; Lenschow and Lima, 2020).…”