Sexual motivation and anxiety-like behaviors of male rats after exposure to a trauma followed by situational reminders Wayne Hawley a , Elin Grissom a , Lisa Keskitalo b , Tyler Hastings b , Gary Dohanich a,b, ⁎ a Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States b Neuroscience Program, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States abstract article info Article history: Received 20 August 2010 Received in revised form 25 October 2010 Accepted 27 October 2010 Keywords: Stress Sexual behavior Anxiety Novelty-suppressed feeding Posttraumatic stress disorder Experiencing a traumatic event can produce long-lasting impairments in affective and social behaviors. In humans, psychopathologies associated with exposure to a single traumatic event often are associated with varying degrees of sexual dysfunction. Similarly, in rats, exposure to a trauma results in long-lasting changes in social behaviors. The current investigation examined if the sexual and affective behaviors of male rats were impacted by exposure to a discrete traumatic event that was followed days later by reminders of the event. The initial trauma combined exposure to a foot shock and predator odor, followed 3 and 7 days later by reminders of the trauma in the absence of either stressor. A day after the final reminder, traumatized rats exhibited decreased sexual motivation indicated by prolonged mount and intromission latencies, although ejaculation latencies and post-ejaculatory intervals remained unchanged. Traumatized rats also exhibited marked increases in anxiety-like behavior in a novel environment as evidenced by longer latencies to begin feeding, decreased movement and ambulation, and fewer entries into the center of an open field. Taken together, the results of the current study suggest that exposure to a single traumatic event, followed by reminders of the event, affected the motivation of male rats to interact with a receptive female and increased their anxiety-like behaviors. Moreover, because posttraumatic stress disorder can arise from exposure to a single traumatic event and is associated with recurrent and intrusive thoughts related to the trauma, the current findings have implications for our understanding of this disorder. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Sexual dysfunction has been linked to a variety of psychopathol- ogies [1] including those that are associated with chronic stress [2–5] and those stemming from a single episode of stress [6,7]. Individuals diagnosed with either generalized anxiety disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder frequently report reductions in sexual desire [3], while those with major depressive disorder [2,3] or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [6,7] are at greater risk for experiencing physiological impairments in their sexual functioning in addition to reductions in desire. However, to date, limited research has been dedicated to developing an animal model of sexual dysfunction as it pertains to stress-induced psychopathology. Sexual activity is as vulnerable to disruption by stressors in rodents as it is in humans. In rats, repeated administration of systemic stressors that induced physical discomfort negatively impacted different facets of male sexual behavior [8–10]. Chronic administration of either cold water immersion or electric foot shock resulted in prolonged mount, intromission, and ejaculation latencies and a decrease in the frequencies of ejaculations [8–10]. Similarly, chronic social stress induced by repeated attacks of a conspecific over the course of several days prolonged the latencies to initiate any component of sexual activity in male mice [11], and in some cases, virtually abolished all aspects of sexual behavior [12]. Even when the severity of the stressor is reduced, marked impairments in sexual behaviors persist. Male rats exposed to several weeks of mild, yet unpredictable stressors, exhibited altered mounting behavior [13,14], as well as prolonged latencies to achieve their first intromission and ejaculation [14]. Moreover, chronic variable stress, much like repeated administration of a single type of stressor [8–10], reduced the frequencies of ejaculations [14]. Animal models of chronic stress indicate that prolonged episodes of chronic stress attenuate both motivational and consummatory sexual behaviors of male rats [15], and thus compromise the likelihood of reproductive success [8,12,14]. The sexual behaviors of male rats also are susceptible to change by chronic stressors that are more psychogenic in nature [10,16,17]. For example, several days of restraint stress resulted in prolonged latencies to achieve ejaculation [10]. Additionally, rats exposed for 10 weeks to the sounds and smells of other rats that were being repeatedly shocked also exhibited less mounting behavior and longer intromission and Physiology & Behavior 102 (2011) 181–187 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tulane University, 2007 Percival Stern Hall, New Orleans, LA 70118, United States. Tel.: +1 504 862 3307; fax: +1 504 862 8744. E-mail address: dohanich@tulane.edu (G. Dohanich). 0031-9384/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2010.10.021 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Physiology & Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/phb