Deficits in male sexual behavior in adulthood after social instability stress in adolescence in rats

• Published in: Hormones and behavior Vol. 63; no. 1; pp. 5 - 12
• Main Authors: McCormick, Cheryl M., Green, Matthew R., Cameron, Nicole M., Nixon, Feather, Levy, Marisa J., Clark, Rachel A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.01.2013; Elsevier; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Adolescence; Animal reproduction; Animals; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Copulation - physiology; Copulatory behavior; Ejaculation - physiology; Estrogen Receptor alpha - metabolism; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hormones and behavior; Male; Males; Mating Preference, Animal - physiology; Partner preference test; Preoptic Area - metabolism; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos - metabolism; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Receptors, Androgen - metabolism; Reproductive behavior; Rodents; Sexual Behavior, Animal - physiology; Sexual motivation; Social Behavior; Stress; Stress, Psychological - metabolism; Stress, Psychological - physiopathology; Testosterone; Testosterone - blood; Adolescence; Testosterone; Reproductive behavior; Copulatory behavior; Partner preference test; Sexual motivation; Stress; Human; Androgen; Rat; Rodentia; Sexual behavior; Male; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Motivation; Preference; Animal; Adolescent; Adult; Testicular hormone; Sex steroid hormone
• ISSN: 0018-506X; 1095-6867
• DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.11.009

There is increasing evidence that exposure to stressors in adolescence has long-lasting effects on emotional and cognitive behavior, but little is known as to whether reproductive functions are affected. We investigated appetitive and consummatory aspects of sexual behavior in male rats that were exposed to chronic social instability stress (SS, n=24) for 16days in mid-adolescence compared to control rats (CTL, n=24). Over five sexual behavior test sessions with a receptive female, SS rats made fewer ejaculations (p=0.02) and had longer latencies to ejaculation (p=0.03). When only data from rats that ejaculated in the fifth session were analyzed, SS rats (n=18) had reduced copulatory efficiency (more mounts and intromissions before ejaculation) compared to CTL rats (n=19) (p=0.004), and CTL rats were twice as likely as SS rats to make more than one ejaculation in the fifth session (p=0.05). Further, more CTL (14/24) than SS (5/25) rats ejaculated in four or more sessions (p=0.05). SS rats had lower plasma testosterone concentrations than CTL rats (p=0.05), but did not differ in androgen receptor, estrogen receptor alpha, or Fos immunoreactive cell counts in the medial preoptic area. The groups did not differ in a partner preference test administered between the fourth and fifth sexual behavior session. The results suggest that developmental history contributes to individual differences in reproductive behavior, and that stress exposures in adolescence may be a factor in sexual sluggishness. ► Stress in adolescence impairs reproductive behavior in male rats. ► Stress in adolescence reduced copulatory efficiency in male rats. ► Stress in adolescence reduced testosterone concentrations in adulthood. ► Stress and control rats did not differ in AR, ERa, or Fos immunoreactive cell counts.