Prior exposure to oxytocin mimics the effects of social contact and
facilitates sexual behaviour in females
by
Cushing BS, Carter CS
Department of Biology,
University of Maryland,
College Park, MD 20742, USA.
bc83@umail:umd.edu
J Neuroendocrinol 1999 Oct; 11(10):765-9
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to determine whether
pretreatment with oxytocin could mimic the effects of social contact and
enhance sexual receptivity in female prairie voles. Female prairie voles
require prolonged exposure to males to become sexually active and oxytocin
has been shown to play a major role in the establishment of social bonds
between males and females. Therefore, we hypothesized that prior exposure
to exogenous oxytocin, in the absence of males, would enhance sexual activity
in females. Two experiments were conducted to test this hypothesis. Experiment
1 examined the capacity of oxytocin to enhance sexual behaviour in females
undergoing natural oestrus. Sexually naive female prairie voles received
a daily subcutaneous injection of 20 microg oxytocin or isotonic saline
for 5 days before being placed with a sexually experienced male for 48 h.
Females treated with oxytocin were significantly more likely to mate during
this period than saline-treated females. In experiment 2 the ability of
oxytocin to increase subsequent sensitivity of sexually naive females to
oestradiol was tested. Females that received oxytocin pretreatment, as in
experiment 1, followed by oestradiol displayed a significant increase in
sexual receptivity when compared to females treated with saline and oestradiol
or oestradiol only. The results supported the hypothesis that prior exposure
to oxytocin can mimic the effects of social contact, and can facilitate
sexual receptivity by increasing the sensitivity of females to very low
doses of oestradiol.
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