Assessment of Sexual Reward with the Conditioned Place Preference Paradigm

Abstract

Sexual behavior, as other naturally motivated behaviors such as eating behavior, involves mesolimbic circuits that belong to the reward system as well as social behavior networks. As a result of the activation of those circuits, individuals normally present an innate motivation to approach those incentives (i.e. potential sexual partner or food) and if they are able to consume such incentives, they will experience a positive affective state. Those mechanisms are crucial for the behavior to be repeated in the future and hence, for the survival of the species. In this context, the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm has been a standard behavioral model used to study the rewarding properties of sexual behavior in laboratory models such as rodents. In this chapter, I will provide detailed materials and methods of CPP procedures and specificities about males and females will be addressed. I will also describe the variants in CPP methodology that have been employed to decipher the rewarding properties of sexual behavior and, finally, I will review studies that have elucidated the differences between males and females regarding sexual reward, its neurobiological basis, and the importance of other factors such as sexual experience, steroidal hormones, and sensory cues.