Yes, I am ready now: differential effects of paced versus unpaced mating on anxiety and central oxytocin release in female rats.

ABSTRACT: Sexual activity and partner intimacy results in several positive consequences in the context of stress-coping, both in males and females, such as reduced state anxiety in male rats after successful mating. However, in female rats, mating is a rewarding experience only when the estrous female is able to control sexual interactions, i.e., under paced-mating conditions. Here, we demonstrate that sex-steroid priming required for female mating is anxiolytic; subsequent sexual activity under paced mating conditions did not disrupt this anxiolytic priming effect, whereas mating under unpaced conditions increased anxiety-related behavior. In primed females, the release of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) within the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus was found to be elevated and to further increase

SUBMITTER: Nyuyki KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3156771 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature