Exogenous androgen activates female behavior in noncopulating, prenatally stressed male rats.

Abstract

Male copulatory behavior was severely impaired in the male offspring of female rats stressed during pregnancy. This deficiency persisted even after castration and prolonged treatment with testosterone propionate and after exposure to electric skin shock. However, androgen treatment effectively activated female lordotic behavior in a large percentage of prenatally stressed males but not in any control animals and in only a negligible number of postnatally stressed males. Although prenatal stress demasculinizes and feminizes behavior, no modifications of reproductive morphology were detectable. It is postulated that prenatal stress alters normal sexual behavior differentiation by attenuating testosterone secretion from the fetal testes.