Dissociation of the effects of castration and testosterone replacement on sexual behavior and neural metabolism of dopamine in the male rat.

Sexually experienced, adult male rats were either castrated, castrated and implanted SC with a Silastic capsule containing testosterone (T), or sham operated. Coital performance of castrates gradually declined such that 4 weeks after surgery no males in this group ejaculated whereas 89% and 100%, respectively, of the rats in the castrated, T-treated and the sham-operated groups displayed ejaculation. Males in all three groups were decapitated 33-34 days post-operatively after 10 min exposure either to the behavioral test chamber, with an estrous female restrained in one corner behind a wire mesh screen, or to a home cage. Brains were quickly removed and the caudate-putamen, nucleus accumbens, septum, and preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus were frozen and saved for later estimation of dopamine (DA) and two neural metabolites of DA, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) and homovanillic acid (HVA). The concentrations of DA, DOPAC, and HVA, as well as the ratio of DOPAC/DA, did not differ significantly in any of the 4 brain regions assayed among males in the three endocrine groups, regardless of whether they were killed after exposure to an estrous female or a home cage. The results fail to support the hypothesis that T-induced alterations in neurotransmission in nigro-striatal, mesolimbic, or incertohypothalamic DA pathways mediate the activational effect of this steroid on masculine sexual behavior.