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Biology of Reproduction, Vol 21, 529-535, Copyright © 1979 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

Hyperprolactinemia Suppresses Copulatory Behavior in Male Rats and Mice

B. SVARE 1, A. BARTKE 1, P. DOHERTY 1, I. MASON 1, S. D. MICHAEL 2, , and M. S. SMITH 3

1 Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts 01545
2 Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York, Binghamton, New York 13901
3 Department of Physiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01601


Male rats and sexually inexperienced male mice, each with chronic hyperprolactinemia induced by ectopic pituitary grafts, exhibited reduced levels of copulatory behavior. Grafted male rats exhibited significantly longer latencies to mount, intromit and ejaculate and significantly fewer mounts and intromissions than did control animals. The proportion of grafted male rats and mice that ejaculated was significantly lower than was that of control animals. Sexual experience eliminated the deficits seen in the copulatory behavior of grafted male mice. In contrast, grafted male rats after additional copulatory exposure continued to show deficits in behavior which were more severe than those seen on earlier tests. Plasma testosterone levels and fertility were unaffected in grafted animals whereas plasma prolactin and corticosterone were significantly elevated and plasma gonadotropins were significantly depressed. The hyperprolactinemic rodent may be a useful model for understanding the mechanisms underlying impaired libido in men with pathological hyperprolactinemia.

Note:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Dr. Linda Lucas for insightful comments during the genesis of these studies, Dr. B. V. Caldwell for antiserum to testosterone, Dr. Y. N. Sinha for materials used in the mouse prolactin assay, Dr. Susan Dalterio for her help in performing these studies and NIAMDD for providing materials used in the radioimmunoassay for rat prolactin, LH and FSH. This work was supported by NICHHD grant HD06867 to A. B., NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship MH05369 to B.S. and the Mabel Louise Riley Charitable Trust.

Submitted on October 17, 1978
Accepted on April 27, 1979






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Copyright © 1979 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction.