Behavioral analysis of male rat sexual motivation and performance following acute ethanol treatment

Abstract To characterize the effects of acute ethanol treatment on sexual motivation and performance, 30 male Long–Evans rats were assigned to one of three treatment conditions: saline ( n =9), 0.25 g/kg ethanol ( n =10), or 1.0 g/kg ethanol ( n =11). Males were injected intraperitoneally 30 min before behavioral testing. Male rats were placed in a multilevel testing chamber 5 min prior to the introduction of a receptive female rat and level changes were recorded as an index of sexual motivation. After the female rat was placed in the chamber, standard measures of sexual performance were recorded over three weekly tests. Results indicated that the highest dose of ethanol (1.0 g/kg) increased male rat level-changing behavior compared to the saline group. Although ethanol treatment failed to affect most measures of sexual performance, males administered 1.0 g/kg ethanol had fewer anogenital investigations and had longer postejaculatory intervals (PEIs) compared to control animals. The data from this experiment suggest that ethanol increases rodent sexual motivation but impairs specific parameters of sexual performance.