Sexual behavior in male rats following intracerebral estrogen application.

Abstract

The effects on sexual behavior and morphology of estradiol benzoate (EB) applied directly to the medial preoptic nucleus were assessed in three groups of male rats with varying sexual behavior potentials. High levels of lordotic behavior were observed in all EB-treated groups. Cholesterol was uniformly ineffective. Central EB failed to facilitate male copulatory behavior in any group. However, there was evidence that cannula implantation may have impaired the potential for male behavior. Significant reductions in testis and epididymis weights were evident in some but not all EB-treated males. It was concluded that EB can activate lordotic behavior consistently in male rats if applied in sufficient amounts to the medial preoptic region.