Assessment of sexual behavior in rats: The potentials and pitfalls

Heijkoop, Roy; Huijgens, Patty T.; Snoeren, Eelke M.S.

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2017.10.029

Cited by 49 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 77 publications

(109 reference statements)

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“…used in the present studies has been developed over the last decades (Pattij et al, 2005;Chan et al, 2008;Olivier et al, 2011), specifically to test the effects of psychoactive drugs, including antidepressants (Waldinger and Olivier, 2005;Chan et al, 2010;Heijkoop et al, 2018). The paradigm is able to distinguish acute effects of drugs like the pro-sexual effects of 5-HT 1A receptor agonists (Pattij et al, 2005), but also the chronic inhibitory effects of SSRI antidepressants (Chan et al, 2010(Chan et al, , 2011Bijlsma et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmacological Studies on the Role of 5-HT1A Receptors in Male Sexual Behavior of Wildtype and Serotonin Transporter Knockout Rats

Esquivel-Franco

Boer

Waldinger

et al. 2020

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Brain serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission plays an important role in male sexual behavior and it is well established that activating 5-HT 1A receptors in rats facilitate ejaculatory behavior. However, the relative contribution of 5-HT 1A somatodendritic autoreceptors and heteroreceptors in this pro-sexual behavior is unclear. Moreover, it is unclear whether the contribution of somatodendritic 5-HT 1A autoreceptors and postsynaptic 5-HT 1A heteroreceptors alter when extracellular 5-HT levels are chronically increased. Serotonin transporter knockout (SERT −/−) rats exhibit enhanced extracellular 5-HT levels and desensitized 5-HT 1A receptors. These rats model neurochemical changes underlying chronic SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction. We want to determine the role of presynaptic versus postsynaptic 5-HT 1A receptors in the pro-sexual effects of 5-HT 1A receptor agonists in SERT +/+ and in SERT −/− rats. Therefore, acute effects of the biased 5-HT 1A receptor agonists F-13714, a preferential 5-HT 1A autoreceptor agonist, or F-15599, a preferential 5-HT 1A heteroreceptor agonist, and S15535 a mixed 5-HT 1A autoreceptor agonist/heteroreceptor antagonist, on male sexual behavior were assessed. A clear and stable genotype effect was found after training where SERT +/+ performed sexual behavior at a higher level than SERT −/− rats. Both F-15599 and F-13714 induced pro-sexual activity in SERT +/+ and SERT −/− animals. Compared to SERT +/+ , the F13714-dose-response curve in SERT −/− rats was shifted to the right. SERT +/+ and SERT −/− rats responded similar to F15599. Within both SERT +/+ and SERT −/− rats the potency of F-13714 was much stronger compared to F-15599. S15535 had no effect on sexual behavior in either genotype. In SERT +/+ and SERT −/− rats that were selected on comparable low sexual activity (SERT +/+ 3 or less ejaculations and SERT −/− 5 or less ejaculations in 10 weeks) S15535 also did not influence sexual behavior. The two biased compounds with differential effects on 5-HT 1A auto-and hetero-receptors, exerted pro-sexual activity in both SERT +/+ and

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmacological Studies on the Role of 5-HT1A Receptors in Male Sexual Behavior of Wildtype and Serotonin Transporter Knockout Rats

Esquivel-Franco

Boer

Waldinger

et al. 2020

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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“…If any other behavior other than genital grooming or “head towards female” occurred between copulatory behaviors, this marked the end of one mount bout (i.e., time of the end of the last copulatory behavior) and beginning of the next mount bout (i.e., time of the next copulatory behavior), and the time in between as a time out duration (see Figure 1A for a schematic overview). From these data points the outcome measures as listed in table 1 were determined (see also 16 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male rat sexual behavior: insights from inter-copulatory intervals

Huijgens

Guarraci

Olivier

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The assessment of sexual behavior in male rats with the aim of unraveling underlying neurobiological mechanisms has in the recent decades been reduced to the annotation of mounts, intromissions and ejaculations. To provide a better understanding of the structure and patterns of copulation, it is necessary to extend and tailor the analysis to the natural organization of male rat copulation. This will lead to better formulation of hypotheses about neurobiological underpinnings of behavior. Mounts and intromissions are naturally organized in mount bouts consisting of one or more copulatory behaviors and are interspersed with time outs. We hypothesized that time outs and the post-ejaculatory interval (inter-copulatory intervals) are related and possibly under the control of a common copulatory inhibition mechanism that is the result of penile sensory stimulation. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed sexual behavior in male rats of three different cohorts from three different laboratories. Results showed that the post-ejaculatory interval and mean time out duration are strongly correlated in all cohorts analyzed. In addition, we showed that individual time out duration is at least partially predicted by the sum of sensory stimulation of copulatory components in the preceding mount bout, with more penile stimulation associated with longer time outs. These findings suggest that both time out and post-ejaculatory interval duration may be determined by the magnitude of sensory stimulation, which inhibits copulation. Whether the same neural pathways are involved in the central orchestration of both time outs and the post-ejaculatory interval should be subject to future studies.

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“…During the first ejaculation series, we also behaviorally annotated 100% of the elapsed time by expanding the ethogram with clasping (mounting the female without pelvic thrusting), genital grooming (grooming of own genital region), other grooming (autogrooming in other regions than genital), chasing (running after the female), anogenital sniffing (sniffing the anogenital region of the female), head towards female (head oriented in the direction of the female while not engaging in other behavior), head not towards female (any behavior that is not oriented towards the female except grooming, such as walking, sniffing the floor, standing still with head direction away from female). From these data points the outcome measures as listed in table 1 were determined (see also (Heijkoop, Huijgens, and Snoeren 2018)). All behavioral tests were conducted during lights-off time.…”

Section: Behavioral Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silencing and stimulating the medial amygdala impairs ejaculation but not sexual incentive motivation in male rats

Huijgens

Heijkoop

Snoeren

2021

Preprint

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The medial amygdala (MeA) is a sexually dimorphic brain region that integrates sensory information and hormonal signaling, and is involved in the regulation of social behaviors. Lesion studies have shown a role for the MeA in copulation, most prominently in the promotion of ejaculation. The role of the MeA in sexual motivation, but also in temporal patterning of copulation, has not been extensively studied in rats. Here, we investigated the effect of chemogenetic inhibition and stimulation of the MeA on sexual incentive motivation and copulation in sexually experienced male rats. AAV5-CaMKIIa viral vectors coding for Gi, Gq, or no DREADDs (sham) were bilaterally infused into the MeA. Rats were assessed in the sexual incentive motivation test and copulation test upon systemic CNO or vehicle administration. We report that MeA stimulation and inhibition did not affect sexual incentive motivation. Moreover, both stimulation and inhibition of the MeA decreased the number of ejaculations in a 30 minute copulation test and increased ejaculation latency and the number of mounts and intromissions preceding ejaculation, while leaving the temporal pattern of copulation intact. These results indicate that the MeA may be involved in the processing of sensory feedback required to reach ejaculation threshold. The convergence of the behavioral effects of stimulating as well as inhibiting the MeA may reflect opposing behavioral control of specific neuronal populations within the MeA.

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Assessment of sexual behavior in rats: The potentials and pitfalls

Cited by 49 publications

References 77 publications

Pharmacological Studies on the Role of 5-HT1A Receptors in Male Sexual Behavior of Wildtype and Serotonin Transporter Knockout Rats

Pharmacological Studies on the Role of 5-HT1A Receptors in Male Sexual Behavior of Wildtype and Serotonin Transporter Knockout Rats

Male rat sexual behavior: insights from inter-copulatory intervals

Silencing and stimulating the medial amygdala impairs ejaculation but not sexual incentive motivation in male rats

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