title: Paradoxical sleep deprivation influences sexual behavior in female rats.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sleep disturbances are a frequent complaint in women and are often attributed to hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle. Rodents have been used as models to examine the effects of sleep deprivation on hormonal and behavioral changes. Among the many comorbidities common to sleep disorders, sexual behavior remains the least well studied.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) can affect sexual receptivity (male acceptance) and proceptivity (male solicitation) behaviors in female rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Female Wistar rats were subjected to PSD or were maintained as controls. After this period, the estrous cycle (proestrus, estrus, and diestrus) was determined, and all females were placed with a sexually experienced male. In order to investigate the role of hormones in sexual behavior, we included additional groups that were artificially induced to be sexually receptive via administration of a combination of estradiol and progesterone.
  
  
  METHODS
  Receptivity and proceptivity behaviors, as well as progesterone and corticosterone concentrations were monitored.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Selective sleep loss caused a significant increase in proceptivity and receptivity behaviors in females exclusively during the proestrus phase. The rejection response was increased in PSD rats during the estrus and diestrus phases, as compared with PSD-receptive and proestrus females. PSD reduced progesterone levels during the proestrus phase relative to the respective control group during the same phase of the estrous cycle. The PSD-proestrus females that displayed the most robust sexual response exhibited greater concentrations of corticosterone than PSD-diestrus females, with an absence of sexual solicitation behaviors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PSD produced a distinct response in the hormonal profile that was consistent with the phase of the estrous cycle. These results show that sleep loss can affect sexual motivation and might lead to important clinical implications, including alterations in female physiology and reproductive abnormalities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychobiology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) São Paulo, SP, Brazil. mandersen@psicobio.epm.br
authors.forename: Monica L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Tathiana A F
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Alvarenga
authors.forename: Camila
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guindalini
authors.forename: Juliana C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: Andressa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zager
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tufik
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004971:Estrus; D005260:Female; D006854:Hydrocortisone; D011374:Progesterone; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000150:complications*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D011374:Progesterone; D006854:Hydrocortisone