Experimental evidence of penile erections during paradoxical sleep in the rat.
We have developed a new technique to chronically monitor penile erections in the rat across behavioural states. This technique, involving chronic erectile tissue pressure monitoring and simultaneous ischiocavernosus and bulbospongiosus (IC-BS) muscle electromyography, demonstrates for the first time that rats exhibit penile erections during paradoxical sleep (PS). No erectile events were observed during slow wave sleep. These PS-related erectile events were similar to visually confirmed, waking state, erections in that they were associated with an increase in baseline erectile tissue pressure and, with IC-BS muscle bursts, dramatic suprasystolic penile pressure peaks often greater than 1000 mmHg. PS-related erections were 11 +/- 7 s in duration and were observed in 28.5% of all PS episodes. This method of chronic penile erection monitoring in the rat provides a new animal model for investigating neural mechanisms of sleep-related erections.
Université Claude Bernard, Département de Médecine Expérimentale, Lyon, France.
M H
MH
Schmidt
J L
JL
Valatx
H S
HS
Schmidt
A
A
Wauquier
M
M
Jouvet
D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D010410:Penile Erection / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats / Q000502:physiology*; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology*