title: Blockade of androgen receptor in the medial amygdala inhibits noncontact erections in male rats.
abstract: Our previous work demonstrated that androgens in the medial amygdala (MeA) of castrated male rats maintained noncontact erections (NCEs), which occur during exposure to an inaccessible receptive female, for one week after implantation. The present experiments investigated the effects of implantation into the MeA of either flutamide (F), a blocker of androgen receptors, or of 1,4,6-androstatrien-3,17-dione (ATD), which blocks aromatization of testosterone. One day after implantation of F, fewer males displayed NCEs, and had longer latencies to the first NCE and fewer NCEs, and spent less total time in genital grooming, compared to the control group. ATD had only weak facilitative effects on some measures of NCEs. These results suggest that androgen receptors in the MeA play a major role in the regulation of NCEs and that the MeA is one of the neuronal structures that regulate male sexual arousal. Furthermore, it is sensitive to relatively fast changes in the level of androgen receptors stimulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Physiology, Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, The Medical University of Warsaw, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland. michalbialy@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bialy
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nikolaev-Diak
authors.forename: Urszula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kalata
authors.forename: Evgeni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nikolaev
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D059002:Androgen Receptor Antagonists; D000818:Animals; D003307:Copulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010410:Penile Erection / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D011944:Receptors, Androgen / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D059002:Androgen Receptor Antagonists; D011944:Receptors, Androgen