Sexual dimorphism in the motor mounting pattern of the New Zealand white rabbit: steroid regulation of vigor and rhythmicity of pelvic thrusting.

The motor mounting patterns of male and female New Zealand white rabbits were analyzed by means of an accelerometric technique and frequency analysis. Clear behavioral dimorphism was noted in the motor mounting pattern. Pelvic thrusting by males was periodic while that performed by females lacked rhythmicity. Thrusting in males was more vigorous than in females. Ovariectomy markedly decreased the incidence of mounting behavior. Testosterone propionate (TP, 5 mg daily for 1 month), restored mounting in all ovariectomized rabbits. TP stimulated the vigor of thrusting and induced a rhythmic mounting pattern in many cases similar to that displayed by intact male rabbits, i.e., thrusting frequency 13-16 per second. Estradiol benzoate (10 micrograms daily for 1 month), elicited mounting in three of the seven rabbits tested. Pelvic thrusting in these rabbits was often highly synchronous showing a frequency higher (18 to 21 thrusts per second) than that displayed by male rabbits. The results suggest the following conclusions: (a) the behavioral dimorphism in mounting observed in rabbits is due to variations in the secretion of sex steroids by the adult gonads rather than to differences in the organization of the neural substrate of mounting; (b) gonadal steroids influence directly or indirectly the neural structures involved in some characteristics of pelvic thrusting, i.e., rhythmicity and vigor.