Role of experience in the neuroendocrine control of ewes' sexual behavior

Abstract

We assessed the role of learning in the expression of female sexual behavior and evaluated the relative importance of age versus experience. Two studies were conducted with ovariectomized ewes submitted to steroid treatment that mimicked an estrus cycle. We compared behavioral (experiments 1 and 2), neurochemical (experiment 1), and endocrine (experiment 2) responses of sexually naive young and adult ewes versus sexually experienced adults when exposed to males. In a third study, we compared their performance in an instrumental learning test and the extent to which it was affected by stress. These experiments showed that proceptivity is affected both by age and sexual experience. In experiment 1 only experienced adults were proceptive and displayed an increase in hypothalamic norepinephrine. By the second estrus cycle (experiment 2) naive adults performed similarly to experienced adults but proceptive behavior was still inferior in young ewes. Receptivity was also different between groups but affected more by age than by sexual experience. All ewes mated during the first interaction with a male, although males' latency to ejaculation was shorter with experienced females than naive adults or naive young. Young ewes found food as readily as adults in experiment 3 but were more affected by stress. Together, these experiments show that both experience and age influence sexual activity and that sensitivity to stress may also be involved. This may contribute to the deficient reproductive performance that is often observed in young female mammals.