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Threshold for copulation-induced analgesia varies according to the ejaculatory endophenotypes in rats

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 34, pages 195–202 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Analgesia may be modulated by multiple internal and external factors. In prior studies, copulatory-induced analgesia was demonstrated using the vocalization threshold to tail shock (VTTS) in male and female rats. Three ejaculatory endophenotypes have been characterized in male Wistar rats based upon their ejaculation latency (EL). Since intromissions and ejaculations produce analgesia, and these copulatory patterns are performed with different frequency depending on the male’s ejaculatory endophenotype, we hypothesized that copulation-induced analgesia would vary in relation to these endophenotypes. In the present study, we used three groups according to the EL (medians): rapid ejaculators (236 s; n = 21), intermediate ejaculators (663.2 s; n = 20) and sluggish ejaculators (1582.2 s; n = 8). Our aim was to evaluate whether copulation-induced analgesia is related to the ejaculatory endophenotypes during two consecutive ejaculatory series (EJS). In the first EJS, the VTTS of the rapid ejaculators was significantly higher than that of intermediate and sluggish rats. At the onset of the second EJS, the VTTS of the rapid and intermediate ejaculators was significantly higher than that of the sluggish rats. No differences in VTTS were observed during the first or second post-ejaculatory intervals among the three groups. These findings provide evidence that the more intromissions that occurred per unit time, the higher was the level of analgesia.

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Fig. 1: Vocalization threshold to tail shock (VTTS) among rapid, intermediate, and sluggish ejaculators.
Fig. 2: Vocalization threshold to tail shock (VTTS) in each endophenotype throughout two ejaculatory series (EJS1, EJS2) and two postejaculatory intervals (PEI1, PEI2).
Fig. 3: Copulatory parameters of rapid, intermediate, and sluggish ejaculators in two ejaculatory series.
Fig. 4: Hypothetical schema to account for copulatory analgesia.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the “Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas” of the Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala for the training received during the Doctorate studies.

Funding

This research was partially supported by PROMEP/103.5/09/1294, and CONACYT [grant 1134291 (OGF), and fellowships 487025/277841 (CEAP) and 400424 (MRFM)].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, Mexico

    Carlos E. Aguilar-Pérez

  2. Centro Tlaxcala de Biología de la Conducta, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Carretera Tlaxcala-Puebla Km 1.5s/n, Loma Xicoténcatl, CP 90062, Tlaxcala, Tlax, Mexico

    Carlos E. Aguilar-Pérez, Maria Reyna Fuentes-Morales & Rosa Angélica Lucio

  3. Centro de Investigación en Reproducción Animal, Carlos Beyer, CINVESTAV-Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Apdo. Postal 62, Panotla, 90140, Mexico

    Porfirio Gómora-Arrati, Julio César Morales-Medina & Oscar González-Flores

  4. Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, 101 Warren St., Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

    Barry R. Komisaruk

  5. Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, CP, 04510, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Maria Reyna Fuentes-Morales

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Aguilar-Pérez, C.E., Gómora-Arrati, P., Komisaruk, B.R. et al. Threshold for copulation-induced analgesia varies according to the ejaculatory endophenotypes in rats. Int J Impot Res 34, 195–202 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-020-00390-8

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