Sexual Experience increases Nitric Oxide Synthase in the Medial Preoptic Area of Male Rats
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2006
Publication Title
Behavioral Neuroscience
Volume
120
Issue
6
Pages
1389-1394
Abstract
Nitric oxide in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) is important for the expression and sensitization of male sexual behavior. In this article, the authors report that repeated sexual experience (mating for 2 hr on each of 3 days) increased levels of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in the MPOA of male rats, regardless of whether they mated on the day they were given an overdose of sodium phenobarbital. This effect resulted from the previous experience and not acute mating, as NOS was not increased 2 hr after the first mating in previously naive males. Experience-induced increases in NOS in the MPOA may be one mechanism through which sexual experience facilitates sexual behavior in male rats.
Identifier
PMID:17201485
Recommended Citation
Dominguez, Juan M, Jessica H Brann, Mario Gil, and Elaine M Hull. “Sexual Experience Increases Nitric Oxide Synthase in the Medial Preoptic Area of Male Rats.” Behavioral Neuroscience 120, no. 6 (December 2006): 1389–94. doi:10.1037/0735-7044.120.6.1389.
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Copyright Statement
© 2006 APA.
