Prepuberal social rearing conditions and sexual behavior in control and neonatally castrated male rats.
Male and female sexual behaviors were assessed in control and neonatally castrated male rats that had been housed with a female, a control male, or a neonatally castrated male from day 16 until adulthood. Prepuberal housing conditions had no differential effect on lordosis or ejaculatory potentials of neonatally castrated males tested as adults. A smaller percentage of control males raised with a neonatal castrate ejaculated than did animals housed with a female or a control male. However, a greater proportion of control males caged with a female showed lordosis than did those living with another control male or with a neonatal castrate. The data demonstrate the modulating effects which specific types of social stimulation experienced during early life have on sexual behaviors displayed in adulthood.
D000728:Androgens / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D003423:Critical Period, Psychological; D004542:Ejaculation; D005783:Gender Identity; D008297:Male; D009919:Orchiectomy; D011187:Posture; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D012934:Social Isolation
D000728:Androgens