1*Adriana Morales-Otal, 2Carlos Torner-Aguilar, 1Carol Fernández-Ramírez, 3Ivonne Heuze de Icaza, 3Heriberto Quintana-Flores and 1Armando Ferreira-Nuño
1Área de Neurociencias, Departamento de Biología de la Reproducción, Universidad Autónoma Metro-politana, Unidad Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México. 2Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Departamento de Atención de la Salud, División de Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Xochimilco, Ciudad de México. 1Bioterio de la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Unidad de Producción y Experimentación de Animales de Labo-ratorio - Unidad Xochimilco, Ciudad de México.
Abstract
Premature ejaculation (PE) is a common sexual dysfunction worldwide, and animal models are used to characterize it. We developed a paradigm called the multiple partner choice arena (MPCA), consisting of 4 acrylic cylinders placed crosswise. Each cylinder contains a sexually experienced male rat, and a receptive female rat resides in the central space, able to choose any cylinder for copulation. We have suggested the MPCA as an animal model for assessing PE because male rats in this paradigm display behavior similar to PE in men, achieving ejaculation in less time. This study aims to demonstrate whether the MPCA satisfies the predictive validity criterion, in which the effects of drugs in the animal model should closely resemble those observed in human medi-cal disorders, such as PE. We investigated the effect of 2 SSRIs (SSRI), sertraline and fluoxetine, on male rats' rapid ejaculation in the MPCA. Two groups of male rats (n=8) were tested: saline, sertraline, and fluoxetine. Weekly doses of 1, 3, and 10 mg/kg/day for sertraline and fluoxetine were administered, while the saline group re-ceived only the vehicle. Each test involved four males from the same group, treated with identi-cal drug doses, until achieving the first ejacula-tion in the MPCA. fluoxetine and sertraline, at the 10 mg/kg dose, significantly prolonged the ejaculation latency. For this reason, the MPCA satisfies the predictive validity criterion as an animal model of PE.
Keywords: Sertraline, fluoxetine, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, premature ejaculation, ani-mal model.
*Correspondence: Dra. Adriana Morales-Otal. Área de Neurociencias, Departamento de Biología de la Reproducción, Universidad Autóno-ma Metropolitana, Unidad Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México. Código Postal: 09340. Telephone number: +52 55 5804 4600 ext. 2723. e-mail: otal@xanum.uam.mx