Sexual preference in female rats during estrous cycle, pregnancy and lactation

Eliasson, Mona; Meyerson, Bengt J.

doi:10.1016/0031-9384(75)90061-x

Cited by 62 publications

(31 citation statements)

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“…The lesioned female stayed in the vicinity of the male for The results showed that the MeA is involved in the estrogen-dependent regulation of partner preference [43]. The significance of estrogen in producing preference for the male has been shown by a runway-choice study, which also detects the level of motivation to seek out males, presumably using odor as a clue [13].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

The Medial Amygdala Controls the Coital Access of Female Rats: A Possible Involvement of Emotional Responsiveness

Kondo

Sakuma

2005

JJP

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Partner preference and paced mating tests were accomplished in ovariectomized female rats 10 following bilateral radiofrequency lesions in the medial amygdala. Open field behavior and passive avoidance learning were also examined to investigate the underlying behavioral mechanism. Partner preference was determined in a chamber located between castrated and sexually active males. Airborne olfactory cues were presented to the female through small holes on the partition. The lesion diminished preference for the odor of sexually active males over that of castrated males, even after injection with 15 high-dose of estrogen. On the other hand, in a paced mating test, the lesioned females without estrogen treatment showed a significantly shorter latency for entering the male's compartment in a two-compartment apparatus, which allowed the females, but not the males, to cross the barrier through a narrow opening at the bottom. However, administration of estrogen and progesterone reduced the effect. The lesion had no effect on emotionality or exploratory behavior in an open field test, but impaired passive avoidance learning 20 capability. We suggest that a male poses an inherent threat to a female. The seemingly incompatible results of partner preference and paced mating tests can be compromised if the male is inherently aversive to the female; this emotional response can be removed by the medial amygdala lesion. [The Japanese Journal of Physiology 55(6), 2005, in press] Key words: female sexual behavior, partner preference, paced mating, medial amygdala, estrogen. 25In the wild rat, sexual interactions are initiated and paced by females in estrus through patterns of approach toward and withdrawal from sexually active males [15]. Although some components of female sexual behavior imply the appetitive aspect, the initiative by females, however, is obscured by male active pursuit when tested in ordinary laboratory situation such as in an aquarium. To solve this problem, several researchers are directing attention to paced mating situation, mimicking wild environment [14, 38]. In the 30 paced mating, female rats can stay a place inaccessible for males and visit a compartment for mating with stimulus males. The situation allows females to regulate their own copulatory pacing without disturbance by males. Pacing behavior, then, is thought to reflect their sexual motivation.Olfactory preference toward sexually active males is also affected by female sexual motivation. When presented odors of sexually active and inactive males, sexually motivated females spend longer time to 35 explore odors from sexually active males. This test also measures female sexual motivation without influence by stimulus male behavior [43].Since the body of our knowledge on neural circuits for female sexual behavior has been accumulated by studying lordosis, a reflexive component of female rat sexual behavior, some researchers start on reevaluation of the regulatory mechanisms of female sexual behavior by means of these test paradigms [16, 4...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

The Medial Amygdala Controls the Coital Access of Female Rats: A Possible Involvement of Emotional Responsiveness

Kondo

Sakuma

2005

JJP

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“…Many examples of this exist in the literature. In rats, those behaviors include performance in obstruction boxes (Jenkins, 1928;Moss, 1924;Stone, Barker, & Tomlin, 1935;Warner, 1927), straight-alley running (Beach & Jordan, 1956;Sheffield, Wulff, & Backer, 1951;Ware, 1968), maze learning (Drewett, 1973;Eliasson & Meyerson, 1975;Hetta & Meyerson, 1978;Kagan, 1955;Meyerson & Lindstrom, 1973;Warner et al, 1991;Whalen, 1961), crossing of electrified grids (Moss, 1924), nose-pokes and other attempts to''get to''a potential sex partner behind a wire-mesh screen (Damsma, Pfaus, Wenkstern, Phillips,&Fibiger,1992;Pfaus,Damsma,Wenkstern,&Fibiger, 1995;Pfaus, Mendelson, & Phillips, 1990), digging through sand (Anderson, 1938), bar-pressing for a sex partner (Beck, 1971(Beck, , 1974(Beck, , 1978Beck & Chmielewska, 1976;French, Fitzpatrick, & Law, 1972;Jowaisas, Taylor, Dewsbury, & Malagodi, 1971;Larsson, 1956;Sachs et al, 1974;Schwartz, 1956) or for a cue light associated with the arrival of a sex partner (Everitt, 1990;, and psychomotor stimulation in anticipation of the arrival of a sex partner (Mendelson & Pfaus, 1989). To gain access to receptive females, male guinea pigs lean to run an alley (Seward & Seward, 1940), male pigeons learn to peck keys (Gilbertson, 1975), and male stickleback fish learn to swim through rings (Sevenster, 1973).…”

Section: Crystallizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and Performance

et al. 2012

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Although sexual behavior is controlled by hormonal and neurochemical actions in the brain, sexual experience induces a degree of plasticity that allows animals to form instrumental and Pavlovian associations that predict sexual outcomes, thereby directing the strength of sexual responding. This review describes how experience with sexual reward strengthens the development of sexual behavior and induces sexually-conditioned place and partner preferences in rats. In both male and female rats, early sexual experience with partners scented with a neutral or even noxious odor induces a preference for scented partners in subsequent choice tests. Those preferences can also be induced by injections of morphine or oxytocin paired with a male rat's first exposure to scented females, indicating that pharmacological activation of opioid or oxytocin receptors can "stand in" for the sexual reward-related neurochemical processes normally activated by sexual stimulation. Conversely, conditioned place or partner preferences can be blocked by the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone. A somatosensory cue (a rodent jacket) paired with sexual reward comes to elicit sexual arousal in male rats, such that paired rats with the jacket off show dramatic copulatory deficits. We propose that endogenous opioid activation forms the basis of sexual reward, which also sensitizes hypothalamic and mesolimbic dopamine systems in the presence of cues that predict sexual reward. Those systems act to focus attention on, and activate goal-directed behavior toward, reward-related stimuli. Thus, a critical period exists during an individual's early sexual experience that creates a "love map" or Gestalt of features, movements, feelings, and interpersonal interactions associated with sexual reward.

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“…Crossings were very slow and were restricted to the peak period of the estrus cycle. Running responses have been shown to increase in rate with sexual reinforcement for female rats, even if intromission is not allowed (Eliasson & Meyerson, 1975). Various preference tests have been used to identify the reinforcing properties of targets.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual Reinforcement in the Female Rat

Matthews

Grigore

Tang

et al. 1997

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Sexual reinforcement in the female rat was studied in a preparation that allowed continuous operant responding for access to a male rat leading to intromission. Experiment 1 used a high operant level nose-poke response to test the possible reinforcing effects of some components of access to a male. A simple tone stimulus used as a conditioned reinforcer and two odor stimuli, target male bedding and emulsified preputial gland, were tested. None of these contingent events altered responding above or below operant level. Access to the male, which was always accompanied by intromission, immediately increased response rate when it was made contingent upon the nose-poke response. Performance on fixed-ratio schedules was erratic, and response rate was low in comparison to typical food-reinforced responding. An interresponse-time analysis indicated, however, that some effect of the ratio contingency may have been present. In Experiment 2, several modifications of the procedure were tested with the objective of creating a more tractable preparation for behavior analysis. Response type and the hormone delivery method were changed, and 2 target males were used instead of 1. The latter tripled the average number of reinforcers earned in a single session. Differences between sexual and other reinforcers are discussed in terms of procedural, quantitative, and motivational aspects of the sexual reinforcement procedure.

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Sexual preference in female rats during estrous cycle, pregnancy and lactation

Cited by 62 publications

References 10 publications

The Medial Amygdala Controls the Coital Access of Female Rats: A Possible Involvement of Emotional Responsiveness

The Medial Amygdala Controls the Coital Access of Female Rats: A Possible Involvement of Emotional Responsiveness

Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and Performance

Sexual Reinforcement in the Female Rat

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