This project is an examination of the mechanical and neuroendocrine causes and effects of sexual potency in animals. This basic research on laboratory rats and other rodent species will promote our comparative understanding of the mechanisms underlying sexual reflexes in males, thereby also facilitating the use of appropriate animal models for the study of the organic origin of human erectile dysfunction and its treatment by pharmacological or surgical means. Sexual reflexes will be studied within and outside the context of copulation in three groups of studies. In one series of experiments, behavioral observations and electromyographic (EMG) recordings of long-term castrated male rats will be used (a) to examine the rate of androgen-induced restoration of activity in the two mechanical systems--i.e., the penile vasculature and the striated penile muscles-- that are normally coordinated in generating penile responses, and (b) to examine indirectly the relative roles of neural cytosol and membrane hormone receptors in the early stages of response restoration by androgen. A second group of studies uses behavioral observation, videorecording, and EMG recording to analyze the coordination of the vascular and striated penile muscle effector systems with each other and with the skeletal movements characteristic of mating in rats. In the third set of studies the mechanical and neuroendocrine effects of penile actions in copula will be compared in laboratory mice, hamsters, and meadow voles. These species were selected because they differ in important aspects of their mating behavior and female reproductive physiology from each other and from previously studied rats. Investigative techniques in this group of studies include surgical and endocrine manipulation of the penile response potential of the males, and scanning electron microscopy of the penile glands to record the changes resulting from castration and androgen replacement.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD008933-14
Application #
3311026
Study Section
Biopsychology Study Section (BPO)
Project Start
1978-09-01
Project End
1990-03-31
Budget Start
1988-09-01
Budget End
1990-03-31
Support Year
14
Fiscal Year
1988
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Connecticut
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Storrs-Mansfield
State
CT
Country
United States
Zip Code
06269
Liu, Y C; Sachs, B D; Salamone, J D (1998) Sexual behavior in male rats after radiofrequency or dopamine-depleting lesions in nucleus accumbens. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 60:585-92
Sachs, B D; Liu, Y C (1998) Mounting and brief noncontact exposure of males to receptive females facilitate reflexive erection in rats, even after hypogastric nerve section. Physiol Behav 65:413-21
Liu, Y C; Salamone, J D; Sachs, B D (1997) Impaired sexual response after lesions of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in male rats. Behav Neurosci 111:1361-7
Liu, Y C; Salamone, J D; Sachs, B D (1997) Lesions in medial preoptic area and bed nucleus of stria terminalis: differential effects on copulatory behavior and noncontact erection in male rats. J Neurosci 17:5245-53
Sachs, B D (1995) Placing erection in context: the reflexogenic-psychogenic dichotomy reconsidered. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 19:211-24
Sachs, B D; Akasofu, K; Citron, J H et al. (1994) Noncontact stimulation from estrous females evokes penile erection in rats. Physiol Behav 55:1073-9
Sachs, B D; Akasofu, K; McEldowney, S S (1994) Effects of copulation on apomorphine-induced erection in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 48:423-8
Lucio, R A; Manzo, J; Martinez-Gomez, M et al. (1994) Participation of pelvic nerve branches in male rat copulatory behavior. Physiol Behav 55:241-6
Holmes, G M; Sachs, B D (1994) Physiology and mechanics of rat levator ani muscle: evidence for a sexual function. Physiol Behav 55:255-66
Leipheimer, R E; Sachs, B D (1993) Relative androgen sensitivity of the vascular and striated-muscle systems regulating penile erection in rats. Physiol Behav 54:1085-90

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