Psychoneuroendocrinology
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · May 2003
Comparative StudySexual behavior reduces hypothalamic androgen receptor immunoreactivity.
Male sexual behavior is regulated by limbic areas like the medial preoptic nucleus (MPN), the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), the nucleus accumbens (nAcc) and the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN). Neurons in these brain areas are rich in androgen receptors (AR) and express FOS-immunoreactivity in response to mating. In many species sexual satiation, a state of sexual behavior inhibition, is attained after multiple ejaculations. ⋯ The AR-ir reduction observed in the MPN of sexually satiated rats was drastic when compared to that of animals ejaculating once. Serum androgen levels did not vary after one ejaculation or copulation to exhaustion. These data reveal that sexual activity reduces AR in specific brain areas and suggest the possibility that such a reduction underlies the sexual inhibition that characterizes sexual satiety.