“Sex, drugs and the brain”: The interaction between drugs of abuse and sexual behavior in the female rat
Section snippets
Description of mating behavior
Sexual behavior in the female rat is characterized by both receptive and proceptive behaviors. Receptive behavior is defined by the lordosis posture, a dorsal flexion of the female rat's back in response to a mount by a male rat (Beach, 1976). Female rats also engage in proceptive or soliciting behaviors including hopping, darting, ear wiggling, and pacing of sexual stimulation (Erskine, 1989). These behaviors function to “solicit” the attention of potential mates. If a sexually receptive
Anatomical substrates of female sexual motivation
Given the potential overlap between the neural structures that are critical for male sexual motivation and drug reward (Damsma et al., 1992, Pfaus and Phillips, 1989, Pfaus and Phillips, 1991), our first attempt to identify the neural structures critical for female sexual motivation investigated the most obvious system: the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. For example, Pfaus and colleagues (1996) reported increased expression of Fos protein (which can be used as a marker of neuronal activity) in
Implications
As we continue to pursue the questions of what neuroanatomical and neurochemical systems control female sexual motivation, we hope that progress will be made to provide treatment options for sexual dysfunction in our foreseeable future. Nevertheless, we should be cautious when making the leap from the lab to the clinic; animal models are not always perfect examples of human dysfunction. When considering the benefits of the studies discussed in this review as they apply to humans, we must be
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Russell J. Frohardt, Sarah Meerts, Romi Burks and Maha Zewail-Foote for their thoughtful comments on the manuscript.
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