Pfaus J G, Smith W J, Coopersmith C B
Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, H3G 1M8, Canada.
Horm Behav. 1999 Jun;35(3):224-40. doi: 10.1006/hbeh.1999.1516.
This study investigated measures of sexual behavior displayed by female rats in bilevel chambers, the statistical relationships among the measures, and their dependency on hormone priming. Normative data from a standard 35-min test of sexual behavior were gathered from 82 fully primed sexually experienced Long-Evans females and subjected to multiple correlational and factor analyses. Several consummatory measures of copulation were related significantly, whereas appetitive level changing was statistically independent of consummatory measures. Factor analyses were conducted using orthogonal rotations of correlational matrices derived either from (a) measures of female behavior alone or (b) measures of female and male behavior together. The first analysis revealed five factors that accounted for 84% of the intersubject variance: Receptivity, Pacing, Appetitive Level Changing, Lordosis Reflex, and Solicitation. The second factor analysis with male data included revealed seven factors that accounted for 95% of the intersubject variance: Pacing, Copulatory Rate, Mount Count, Receptivity, Appetitive Level Changing, Solicitation, and Lordosis Reflex. Subsequently, subsets of these females were maintained on different steroid priming regimens (oil, low estrogen, high estrogen, high estrogen and progesterone) prior to a standard test of sexual behavior. Although the expression of all sexual behaviors required estrogen priming, appetitive level changing, solicitation, and pacing required progesterone for their full expression. Finally, appetitive level changing developed following hormone treatment alone, regardless of whether the females received access to sexually active males, inactive castrated males, or other females. Use of bilevel chambers allows complex patterns of sexual behavior to be observed in female rats and may thus facilitate the identification of neurochemical or endocrine mechanisms associated with different aspects of female sexual motivation and performance.
本研究调查了雌性大鼠在双室环境中表现出的性行为指标、这些指标之间的统计关系以及它们对激素预处理的依赖性。从82只经过充分预处理且有性经验的Long-Evans雌性大鼠中收集了35分钟标准性行为测试的规范数据，并进行了多次相关分析和因子分析。几种交配的 consummatory 指标显著相关，而求偶水平变化在统计上与 consummatory 指标无关。因子分析使用了从以下两种情况导出的相关矩阵的正交旋转：(a) 仅雌性行为指标；(b) 雌性和雄性行为指标。第一次分析揭示了五个因素，它们占个体间方差的84%：接受性、节奏、求偶水平变化、脊柱前凸反射和 solicitation。包含雄性数据的第二次因子分析揭示了七个因素，它们占个体间方差的95%：节奏、交配率、骑跨次数、接受性、求偶水平变化、solicitation 和脊柱前凸反射。随后，在进行标准性行为测试之前，将这些雌性大鼠的子集维持在不同的类固醇预处理方案（油、低雌激素、高雌激素、高雌激素和孕酮）下。尽管所有性行为的表达都需要雌激素预处理，但求偶水平变化、solicitation 和节奏的充分表达需要孕酮。最后，无论雌性大鼠是否接触性活跃的雄性、去势的无活性雄性或其他雌性，仅激素处理后求偶水平变化就会出现。使用双室环境可以观察到雌性大鼠复杂的性行为模式，因此可能有助于识别与雌性性动机和表现的不同方面相关的神经化学或内分泌机制。
