Abstract
Estrogens have been shown to rapidly promote male copulatory behaviors with a time-course that suggests rapid signaling events are involved. The present study tested the hypothesis that estrogen acts through a novel Gq protein-coupled membrane estrogen receptor (ER). Thus, either estradiol (E2), STX (a diphenylacrylamide compound that selectively activates a membrane ER pathway), or vehicle were administered acutely to castrated male rats that bore subcutaneous (sc) dihydrotestosterone implants to maintain genital sensitivity. Appetitive (level changes, genital investigation) and consummatory (mounts, intromissions, ejaculations) components of male sexual behavior were measured in a bilevel testing apparatus. Testing showed that E2 treatment promoted olfactory and mounting behaviors, but had no effect on motivation as measured by anticipatory level changes. STX treatment showed no effect on either component of male sexual behavior. These results support previous results that showed that E2 can rapidly affect male sexual behaviors but fail to support a role for the specific membrane-initiated pathway activated by STX.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 598-605 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Behavioral Neuroscience |
Volume | 127 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2013 |
Keywords
- Bilevel test
- Copulatory behavior
- Estradiol
- Mounting behavior
- Olfactory behavior
- STX
- Sexual motivation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Behavioral Neuroscience