Vathy I, Katay L
Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461.
Brain Res Dev Brain Res. 1992 Jul 24;68(1):125-31. doi: 10.1016/0165-3806(92)90254-t.
Female rats exposed to morphine in utero (5-10 mg/kg twice a day on days 11-18 of gestation) were significantly inhibited in their sexual behavior when compared to saline-exposed controls. In contrast, males exposed prenatally to morphine had shorter post-ejaculatory intromission latencies and, after the first test, exhibited increased mounting and intromitting activity relative to controls. Examination of the brain catecholamine content revealed that morphine in utero may permanently alter adult hypothalamic norepinephrine levels in male and female rats. The morphine-induced alterations in hypothalamic norepinephrine levels were sexually dimorphic. In the hypothalamus of male rats, norepinephrine content was increased 95%, whereas in the hypothalamus of female rats it was decreased 57% relative to controls. These results suggest that prenatal morphine exposure, which differentially affects adult male and female sexual behavior, also alters hypothalamic norepinephrine content in a sexually dimorphic fashion.
与暴露于生理盐水的对照组相比，在子宫内接触吗啡的雌性大鼠（在妊娠第11至18天每天两次给予5-10毫克/千克）性行为受到显著抑制。相比之下，产前接触吗啡的雄性大鼠射精后插入潜伏期较短，并且在第一次测试后，相对于对照组表现出增加的爬跨和插入活动。对脑儿茶酚胺含量的检查表明，子宫内的吗啡可能会永久性改变成年雄性和雌性大鼠下丘脑去甲肾上腺素水平。吗啡引起的下丘脑去甲肾上腺素水平变化具有性别差异。在雄性大鼠的下丘脑中，去甲肾上腺素含量相对于对照组增加了95%，而在雌性大鼠的下丘脑中则减少了57%。这些结果表明，产前接触吗啡以性别差异的方式影响成年雄性和雌性性行为，同时也以性别差异的方式改变下丘脑去甲肾上腺素含量。
