Sexual behaviour in castrated male rats and gonadal steroid circulating levels

Abstract

Circulating testosterone (T) and estradiol-17ß (Ei) were measured in a group of 33 castrated male Wistar rats with previous sexual experience. T and E2 were determined by R.I.A. before and after a sexual activity test done 12 days after castration. The main results of the study are a lack of correlation between hormones studied and sexual performance, and a significant increase, after the behavioural test, of T circulating levels in the castrated males that were sexually active. This result suggests that also in the intact male, to understand the relationship between T secretion and sexual behaviour, not absolute value of T levels but individual changes should be taken into consideration. © 1983 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.