Hormonal Control of Sexual Behavior in the Female Rat: Molecular, Cellular and Neurochemical Studies1

Abstract

The present era of molecular research on steroid hormone action originates from the demonstration that there are intracellular protein receptors that bind steroid hormones and carry them to sites in cell nuclei where they regulate gene expression (Jensen and Jacobson, 1962; Toft and Gorski, 1966; Jensen et al., 1968; O’Malley and Means, 1974). Researchers of steroid hormone action in brain tissue have taken advantage of this revolution in biochemistry and cell biology and have found a way to understand the actions of gonada! and adrenal steroids on neural cells in cellular and molecular terms. However, the road has not been an easy one. The difficulties stem from the extreme complexity and anatomical heterogeneity of the brain, and the precise and highly localized neural networks involved in governing behavior. There also have been conceptual problems caused by a common tendency to regard the hormone as a stimulus and the behavior it regulates as a response, a relationship that implies temporal immediacy. However, because a hallmark of steroid hormone-regulated behaviors is their long latency and duration in relation to hormone priming, it has been necessary to look at the role of hormones in a different light. More than 40 years ago, the preeminent pioneer in elucidating hormones’ effects on behavior, Frank Beach, anticipated the current view of steroid hormone action by writing: