An NMDA antagonist impairs copulation and the experience-induced enhancement of male sexual behavior in the rat.
Sexual experience facilitates subsequent male sexual behavior; activation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor may play a role in this experience-induced enhancement. In this article, the authors report that systemic injections of MK-801, an NMDA receptor antagonist, impaired male sexual behavior in sexually naive and sexually experienced male rats. Furthermore, saline-treated rats that received 7 daily exposures to an inaccessible estrous female instead of sexual experience displayed enhancement of copulation on the following day. Injections of MK-801 before each of these exposures inhibited the experience-induced enhancement on the drug-free test on Day 8. These data suggest that stimulation of NMDA receptors enhances sexual performance immediately and mediates the experience-induced enhancement of subsequent copulatory behavior.
Powell
Whitney S
WS
Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 14260, USA.
Dominguez
Juan M
JM
Hull
Elaine M
EM
D000818:Animals; D003307:Copulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004971:Estrus; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*
D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate