How REM sleep deprivation and amantadine affects male rat sexual behavior

Abstract

There are conflicting findings about the sexual effects of REM sleep deprivation (REMd). Otherwise, several studies show a dopaminergic hypersensitivity after REMd. The effect of REMd and amantadine (AMA) was studied for standard measures and temporal patterning in the first experiment, in four groups: normal with vehicle, normal with AMA (5.0 and 10 mg/kg), REMd with vehicle and REMd with AMA (5.0 and 10.0 mg/kg). REMd reduced mount latency (ML), intromission latency (IL) and mount number (MN) and increased copulatory efficiency (CE) and hit rate factor. REMd also reduced the mount bout number (MBN) and increased the sexual interaction (mount bout time, MBT) among male and female during copula. AMA stimulates initiation and hit rate factors and accelerates the temporal patterning of sexual behavior, evoking fewer and quicker mount bouts. In the experiments with combination of REMd and AMA administration, AMA did not increase behavior effects evoked by REM deprivation, probably due to a top or a bottom effect, depending on the measures considered. A second experiment studied the effects of AMA (1.25 to 5.0 mg/kg) and REMd on the sexual reflexes of nonimmobilized male rats. REMd enhanced the AMA effects upon the seminal emission reflex, but inhibited the penile erection reflex elicited by 1.25 mg/kg of AMA. Curiously, our results showed that REMd, like AMA, a dopaminergic agonist, causes similar effects of sexual behavior in the male rat, particularly those related to arousal mechanism and hit rate factor. The results are discussed and the effects of REMd probably involve dopaminergic hypersensitivity and increased sexual motivational response.