Stimuli associated with behavioral events may induce physiological responses which serve adaptive functions for both the individual and the species. One of the primary models for study of these behavior/endocrine interrelationships has been the study of the mechanisms whereby reproductive behavior induces the neural and endocrine changes necessary for initiation and maintenance of pregnancy in the female rat. In this species, the behavioral patterns exhibited during mating are the lordosis posture and several solicitational behavior patterns which serve to indicate sexual readiness as well as to arouse the male to mate. One of the more compelling, yet least studied, aspects of solicitational behavior is the regulation, or pacing, by the estrous female of the timing of the penile intromissions received from males, behaviors occurring spontaneously under laboratory conditions in which females are placed into experimental test chambers which allow them to control their contacts with sexually active male rats. The frequency and timing of cervical-vaginal stimulation received from males during mating are critical for the cessation of ovarian cyclicity which accompanies pregnancy and pseudopregnancy (PSP); in particular, pacing of coital contacts by the female significantly increase the incidence of PSP or pregnancy above levels seen in females mated under test conditions in which they are not able to pace coital stimulation. Therefore, paced solicitation provides a behavioral mechanism whereby the female insures that she receives appropriate stimulation for pregnancy initiation. Experiments proposed in this application will examine the physiological mechanisms responsible for the display of paced solicitation and the role of the ovarian steroids, estradiol and progesterone, in the pacing of coital contacts by females, changes in the secretory pattern of prolactin (PRL) following paced as opposed to non-paced coital stimulation, and the neural sites involved in the display of pacing behavior.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01HD021802-04
Application #
3320943
Study Section
Biopsychology Study Section (BPO)
Project Start
1986-08-01
Project End
1992-07-31
Budget Start
1989-08-01
Budget End
1990-07-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1989
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
604483045
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
Polston, E K; Heitz, M; Barnes, W et al. (2001) NMDA-mediated activation of the medial amygdala initiates a downstream neuroendocrine memory responsible for pseudopregnancy in the female rat. J Neurosci 21:4104-10
Polston, E K; Erskine, M S (2001) Excitotoxic lesions of the medial amygdala differentially disrupt prolactin secretory responses in cycling and mated female rats. J Neuroendocrinol 13:13-21
Lee, J W; Erskine, M S (2000) Changes in pain threshold and lumbar spinal cord immediate-early gene expression induced by paced and nonpaced mating in female rats. Brain Res 861:26-36
Lee, J W; Erskine, M S (2000) Pseudorabies virus tracing of neural pathways between the uterine cervix and CNS: effects of survival time, estrogen treatment, rhizotomy, and pelvic nerve transection. J Comp Neurol 418:484-503
Polston, E K; Centorino, K M; Erskine, M S (1998) Diurnal fluctuations in mating-induced oxytocinergic activity within the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei do not influence prolactin secretion. Endocrinology 139:4849-59
Erskine, M S; Hanrahan, S B (1997) Effects of paced mating on c-fos gene expression in the female rat brain. J Neuroendocrinol 9:903-12
Frye, C A; McCormick, C M; Coopersmith, C et al. (1996) Effects of paced and non-paced mating stimulation on plasma progesterone, 3 alpha-diol and corticosterone. Psychoneuroendocrinology 21:431-9
Frye, C A; Van Keuren, K R; Erskine, M S (1996) Behavioral effects of 3 alpha-androstanediol. I: Modulation of sexual receptivity and promotion of GABA-stimulated chloride flux. Behav Brain Res 79:109-18
Lee, J W; Erskine, M S (1996) Vaginocervical stimulation suppresses the expression of c-fos induced by mating in thoracic, lumbar and sacral segments of the female rat. Neuroscience 74:237-49
Coopersmith, C; Gans, S E; Rowe, D W et al. (1996) Infusions of lidocaine into the amygdala, but not the preoptic area, block pseudopregnancy in the rat. J Neuroendocrinol 8:259-66

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