Abstract
To investigate whether reserpine given in the critical period of sexual differentiation of the rat brain affects adult sexual behaviour, female and male rats were given a single injection of reserpine on the fourth day after birth, and their sexual behaviour was tested at maturity. In the 11 consecutive daily tests for spontaneous sexual behaviour the reserpine treated female animals showed fewer regular behavioural and vaginal oestrous cycles than the control animals. 19 % of the reserpinized and none of the control animals had prolonged oestrous behaviour without a coincident prolonged vaginal cycle. The reseptivity quotients of the reserpine treated animals were reduced. In the tests for hormone induced sexual behaviour after ovariectomy no statistically significant differences between the number of animals responding or between the receptivity quotients occurred. The tests for spontaneous sexual behaviour in males showed that the reserpinized animals needed fewer intromissions to ejaculate than the controls. The significance of these findings is discussed.
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Lehtinen, P., Hyyppä, M. & Lampinen, P. Sexual behaviour of adult rats after a single neonatal injection of reserpine. Psychopharmacologia 23, 171–179 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00401192
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00401192