Dopamine, Noradrenaline and Differences in Sexual Behavior between Roman High and Low Avoidance Male Rats: A Microdialysis Study in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex
Fabrizio Sanna, Jessica Bratzu, Maria A. Piludu, Maria G. Corda, Maria R. Melis, Osvaldo Giorgi, Antonio Argiolas
Abstract
Roman High- (RHA) and Low-Avoidance (RLA) outbred rats, which differ for a respectively rapid vs. poor acquisition of the active avoidance response in the shuttle-box, display differences in sexual activity when put in the presence of a sexually receptive female rat. Indeed RHA rats show higher levels of sexual motivation and copulatory performance than RLA rats, which persist also after repeated sexual activity. These differences have been correlated to a higher tone of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system of RHA rats vs. RLA rats, revealed by the higher increase of dopamine found in the dialysate obtained from the nucleus accumbens of RHA than RLA rats during sexual activity. This work shows that extracellular dopamine and noradrenaline (NA) also, increase in the dialysate from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of male RHA and RLA rats put in the presence of an inaccessible female rat and more markedly during direct sexual interaction. Such increases in dopamine (and its main metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, DOPAC) and NA were found in both sexually naïve and experienced animals, but they were higher: (i) in RHA than in RLA rats; and (ii) in sexually experienced RHA and RLA rats than in their naïve counterparts. Finally, the differences in dopamine and NA in the mPFC occurred concomitantly to those in sexual activity, as RHA rats displayed higher levels of sexual motivation and copulatory performance than RLA rats in both the sexually naïve and experienced conditions. These results suggest that a higher dopaminergic tone also occurs in the mPFC, together with an increased noradrenergic tone, which may be involved in the different copulatory patterns found in RHA and RLA rats, as suggested for the mesolimbic dopaminergic system.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
1
3%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
1
3%
Other
2
5%
Unknown
16
42%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 20. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 February 2022.
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#1,582,884
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Outputs from Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
#255
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Outputs of similar age
#33,069
of 317,697 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
#9
of 67 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,151,189 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 93rd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,227 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 11.3. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 67 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 86% of its contemporaries.
