Research Project
10292015
Project Summary Sexual health contributes to women?s quality of life, emotional connections, and physical pleasure but understanding of female sexual function is woefully limited. Sexual desire, the interest and willingness to engage in sexual behavior, sexual arousal, the physiological response of the genitals, and sexual satisfaction, the aspects of sexual activity that promote future sexual interest, are overlapping aspects of female sexual function that feed back on each other to support sexual health. Human sexual behavior can be mapped onto these constructs, as can sexual behavior in rats, which enables experimental behavioral manipulation that would not be possible in humans. The PI and her students have established a preclinical model of enhanced sexual behavior in female rats, in which female rats exhibit heightened sexual desire, arousal, and satisfaction. This novel model of experience-enhanced sexual behavior in female rats will be used to better understand neural and peripheral factors that drive heightened sexual behavior. The specific goals of this proposal are to 1) determine whether activity in the posterodorsal medial amygdala during mating is key for experience-enhanced sexual behavior and motivation in female rats; 2) test whether opioid-mediated reward underlies conditioned preference for a single mating interaction in sexually experienced female rats; 3) establish whether opioid reward systems are sensitized in sexually experienced female rats by assessing cross- sensitization of mating and morphine; and 4) explore vaginal and clitoral morphology in rats that show enhanced mating behavior. The research team?s approach to sexual behavior from a position of health is innovative and will provide a better grasp of the neural and physiological systems that promote future sexual interest to help establish effective therapies for female sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, this proposal will enhance research opportunities at Carleton College. Undergraduate students will participate in a broad spectrum of techniques thereby acquiring skills in animal behavior, small animal surgery, immunofluorescence, microscopy, pharmacological manipulations, data analysis, and science communication. The PI takes steps to ensure underrepresented populations are invited to become student researchers in her lab and to foster a sense of belonging within the lab community.
