Modelling sexual violence in male rats: the sexual aggression test (SxAT).

ABSTRACT: Sexual assault and rape are crimes that impact victims worldwide. Although the psychosocial and eco-evolutionary factors associated with this antisocial behavior have repeatedly been studied, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are still largely unknown. Here, we established a novel paradigm to provoke and subsequently assess sexual aggression (SxA) in adult male Wistar rats: the sexual aggression test (SxAT). Briefly, male Wistar rats are sexually aroused by a receptive female, which is exchanged by a non-receptive female immediately after the first intromission. This protocol elicits forced mounting and aggressive behavior toward the non-receptive female to different degrees, which can be scored. In a series of experiments we have shown that SxA behavior is a relatively stable trai

SUBMITTER: de M Oliveira VE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9117203 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature