Behavioural neuroscienceVasopressin interactions with oxytocin in the control of female sexual behavior
Section snippets
Experimental procedures
All experiments were conducted in accordance with NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and were approved by the University of North Carolina School of Medicine Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. All efforts were made to minimize the numbers of animals used and their suffering.
Results
In experiment 1, there was a highly significant treatment by time interaction for LQs (F(4/52)=7.94, P<0.001, Fig. 1a) but not for HD or agonistic behaviors. In post hoc Bonferroni tests, LQs were overall significantly lower in the 0.4 μg AVP compared with the NS treatment group (P=0.001) but not significantly different in the 0.2 μg AVP group. LQs were significantly lower 60 min after i.c.v. infusion of 0.4 μg AVP (t(23)=7.74, P<0.001) and 90 min after infusion of 0.2 μg and 0.4 μg of AVP (t
Discussion
In these experiments, we found that i.c.v.-administered AVP exerted rapid dose-related inhibitory effects on receptive and proceptive components of female sexual behavior and i.c.v.-administered V1aA had a more delayed facilitating effect on receptivity and an inhibiting effect on male-directed agonistic behavior. OT administration shortly after AVP prevented the decline in receptivity and diminished agonistic behavior while pretreatment with OTA blocked V1aA facilitation of receptivity. The
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by MH56157 awarded to C.A.P. We wish to also acknowledge the excellent technical assistance of Blanche Edwards.
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2020, PsychoneuroendocrinologyCitation Excerpt :Furthermore, ICV infusion of AVP antiserum blocked the AVP-induced decrement in sexual behavior (i.e., lordosis) in estradiol-primed female rats (Södersten et al., 1983). Likewise, ICV infusion of AVP significantly decreased, while ICV infusion of a V1AR antagonist increased, lordosis behavior as well as hop-dart proceptive sociosexual behavior in estradiol and progesterone-primed female rats (Pendersen and Boccia, 2006). From a functional perspective, Fos expression in AVP-ir neurons in the MeA was augmented in male mice that were allowed to investigate an inaccessible estrus female (Hari Dass and Vyas, 2014), and mating augmented Fos expression in the monogamous male prairie vole VP (Lim and Young, 2004).
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2018, General and Comparative EndocrinologyCitation Excerpt :After 5 min of adaptation, a sexually experienced male rat of proven fertility was introduced into the cage, and, sexual behavior was monitored and recorded for 30 min. Receptive sexual behavior, including the lordosis quotient (LQ; number of lordosis reflexes divided by the number of total mounts (including mount, intromission and ejaculation), multiplied by 100), lordosis rating (LR; the average degree (0–3) of lordosis reflex in the first 10 mounts), number of total mounts of male partner, proceptive behavior (ear wiggles, and hops/darts), and agonistic behavior (kick bouts and box) were measured from video recordings of each cage (Witt and Insel, 1991; Jones and Wade, 2002; Pedersen and Boccia, 2006; Sánchez Montoya et al., 2010). At 1 week after sexual behavior testing, the rats were killed by decapitation and brains were collected for measurements of the mRNA expression levels of Kiss1, Kiss1r, GnRH, ERα, ERβ, progesterone receptors (PRB and PRA + B), OT, OTR and Cyp19a1 in the hypothalamus and amygdala (OT and OTR mRNA were measured only in the hypothalamus).
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2016, Physiology and BehaviorTesting the critical window of estradiol replacement on gene expression of vasopressin, oxytocin, and their receptors, in the hypothalamus of aging female rats
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