Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany.
PLoS One. 2011;6(8):e23599. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023599. Epub 2011 Aug 16.
Sexual activity and partner intimacy results in several positive consequences in the context of stress-coping, both in males and females, such as reduced state anxiety in male rats after successful mating. However, in female rats, mating is a rewarding experience only when the estrous female is able to control sexual interactions, i.e., under paced-mating conditions. Here, we demonstrate that sex-steroid priming required for female mating is anxiolytic; subsequent sexual activity under paced mating conditions did not disrupt this anxiolytic priming effect, whereas mating under unpaced conditions increased anxiety-related behavior. In primed females, the release of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) within the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus was found to be elevated and to further increase during paced, but not unpaced mating. Central administration of an OT receptor antagonist partly prevented priming/mating-induced anxiolysis indicating the involvement of brain OT in the anxiolysis triggered by priming and/or sexual activity.These findings reveal that the positive consequences of mating in females are dependent on her ability to control sexual interactions, and that brain OT release is at least in part the underlying neurobiological correlate.
性行为和伴侣亲密关系在应对压力方面会带来一些积极的结果，无论是在男性还是女性中，例如成功交配后的雄性大鼠的状态焦虑减少。然而，在雌性大鼠中，只有当发情期雌性能够控制性行为时，交配才是一种有益的体验，即处于有节奏的交配条件下。在这里，我们证明了雌性交配所需的性激素启动是一种抗焦虑作用；随后在有节奏的交配条件下进行的性行为不会破坏这种抗焦虑启动效应，而在无节奏的条件下进行的交配会增加与焦虑相关的行为。在被启动的雌性中，发现下丘脑室旁核内神经肽催产素（OT）的释放增加，并在有节奏的但不是无节奏的交配过程中进一步增加。中央给予 OT 受体拮抗剂部分阻止了启动/交配诱导的抗焦虑作用，表明脑 OT 参与了启动和/或性行为触发的抗焦虑作用。这些发现表明，雌性交配的积极后果取决于她控制性行为的能力，并且脑 OT 释放至少部分是潜在的神经生物学相关因素。
