Sensory cues mediating mating-induced potentiation of sexual receptivity in female rats

Repeated mating of estradiol-primed female rats increases sexual receptivit y. Two studies were conducted to determine the contribution of vaginal-cerv ical stimulation (VCS) to this increase. In the first study, female rats we re repeatedly mated for 165 min. The vaginas of half of the females were co vered with tape (masked) to prevent intromissions by the males. The remaini ng females were unmasked. Only females receiving intromissions (unmasked) s howed a significant increase in sexual receptivity during repeated mating, suggesting that VCS from intromissions is necessary for repeated mating to increase sexual receptivity. In the second experiment, female rats received either experimentally administered VCS or control scapular stimulation adm inistered with a plastic probe 1 h prior to testing for sexual receptivity. VCS applied in this manner significantly increased sexual receptivity. Tog ether, these findings suggest that VCS from intromissions is one of the pri mary factors responsible for increases in sexual receptivity following repe ated mating. (C) 2001 Academic Press.