ABSTRACT
I. Introduction................................................................................. 243 II. Proceptive Behavior in the Female Rat..................................... 244
III. Neuronal Activity in Conscious Rats ........................................ 245 IV. Neuronal Activity during Sexual Behavior .............................. 247 V. Preoptic Neuronal Activity and Sexual Motivation................. 247
VI. Conclusions ................................................................................. 252 VII. Acknowledgments ...................................................................... 252
References ............................................................................................. 252
Sexual behavior in the laboratory rat is characterized by its dependence on circulating titers of sex hormones and sexual dimorphism. Over the past few decades, these attributes have been used successfully to identify neural substrates for various components of female and male rat sexual behavior. Earlier contributions centered about the detailed description of the components of sexual behavior in each sex and the identity of effective sex hormones that regulate them. Thus, in the female rat, proceptive and receptive components have been distinguished. The lordosis reflex, an estrogen-sensitive postural reflex with a dorsiflexion of the vertebral column, is by far the most closely scrutinized among the receptive components of female rat sexual behavior. The neural circuitry for the lordosis reflex, which includes estrogen-sensitive facilitatory and inhibitory components, has been identified.
