Regulation of female sexual behavior in the golden hamster: behavioral effects of mating and ovarian hormones.

In the female hamster, sexual receptivity was abbreviated following copulation. Short-term effects of mating, lasting approximately 24-48 hr, were observed in females mated in either estradiol- or estradiol-and-progesterone-induced estrus. Long-term effects of copulation, of 9 days or more in duration, were apparent only in females chronically treated with both estradiol and progesterone, suggesting that progesterone exposure prolongs the inhibitory effects of mating. When progesterone stimulation was intermittent through the use of short-acting injection procedures, recovery from mating could be detected in 48 hr and was complete within 96 hr after copulation. The pattern of behavioral response to ovarian hormones in unmated females was also documented, replicating the "biphasic" effect of progesterone in this species. The inhibitory effects of mating and progesterone summate to produce consistent decrements in female sexual receptivity. It is postulated that short-term postcopulatory abbreviations in receptivity would reduce the vulnerability of the estrous female while long-term inhibitions, interacting with sustained progesterone stimulation, would reduce the probability of mating during pregnancy when hormone levels are elevated for a prolonged period.