Sexual motivation: a neural and behavioural analysis of the mechanisms underlying appetitive and copulatory responses of male rats
Abstract
Experiments investigating the neural mechanisms underlying the expression of masculine sexual behaviour are discussed in the context of the hypothesis set out by Frank Beach that suggested the existence of separate sexual arousal and performance mechanisms. The results indicate that the medial preoptic area is crucially involved in consummatory aspects of sexual behaviour: lesions and chemical manipulations of the area profoundly affect mounts, intromissions and ejaculation, but tend not to alter appetitive sexual responses. By contrast, ventral striatal dopamine-dependent mechanisms primarily affect appetitive sexual responses, measured in a variety of paradigms, but tend not to alter copulatory behaviour itself. Finally, associative mechanisms, for example those by which arbitrary environmental stimuli come to control appetitive sexual responses through their predictive association with sexual reinforcement, are shown to depend at least in part on interactions between the basolateral amygdala and dopamine-dependent events in the ventral striatum. Thus, diverse neural and behavioural procedures have revealed that separable neural mechanisms appear to be involved more or less selectively with different components of the male rat's sexual response system. It may still be useful to conceptualize separate sexual arousal and intromission/ejaculatory mechanisms when studying the neuroendocrine basis of sexual behaviour. However, a major challenge is to understand the way in which elements of the telencephalic limbic system, the striatum and preoptic area, some of which are targets for the action of sex steroids, interact to produce an integrated pattern of sexual behaviour.
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In adult male rats, castration, lesions of the medial preoptic area, or microinjection of dopamine antagonist drugs can produce effects similar to those of Vz.
“In adult male rats, a number of manipulations can produce similar effects, including castration (Leipheimer and Sachs 1993), lesions of the medial preoptic area (Everitt 1990), or microinjection of dopamine antagonist drugs (Pfaus and Phillips 1991).”
From Perinatal Exposure to Low Levels of the Environmental Antiandrogen Vinclozolin Alters Sex-Differentiated Social Play and Sexual Behaviors in the Rat (2005) · cites this paper as Everitt 1990
Male rats show preference for environments associated with the presence of females.
“Male rats show preference for environments associated with the presence of females (Everitt, 1990).”
From Oxytocin, motivation and the role of dopamine (2014) · cites this paper as Everitt, 1990
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- Authors
- Everitt, B. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Everitt, Barry J.
- ORCID
- Everitt, Barry J.
- Venue
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1990-06
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 217-232
- ISSN
- 0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2059297425
- Cited by
- 650
- References
- 95
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 6.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Keywords
- sexual motivation, male sexual behavior, sexual arousal, sexual performance, medial preoptic area, ventral striatum, dopamine, basolateral amygdala, mating behavior, ejaculation, intromission, associative learning, limbic system, sex steroids, rats
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Clinical Trials as Topic, Copulation, Dopamine, Male, Motivation, Sexual Behavior, Animal, Testosterone, Rats
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