Mating behavior: facilitation in the female rat after cortical application of potassium chloride.

Mating behavior in ovariectomized female rats treated with estrogen can be greatly enhanced by subcutaneous injections of progesterone. Application of potassium chloride to the cortex of females previously treated with estrogen can also induce greatly increased sexual receptivity as indicated by the lordosis response. This facilitation of mating behavior by a treatment known to cause functional decortication suggests that mechanisms mediating female mating behavior are under tonic inhibition by an inhibitory system which involves the cerebral cortex.