Central progesterone induces female sexual behavior in estrogen-primed intact male rats.

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Abstract
Progesterone induced high levels of female lordotic behavior in 10 of 17 intact, estrogen-primed male rats when it was applied directly to the medial preoptic-anterior hypothalamic area. All 17 males previously had shown lordosis when the serotonergic antagonist methysergide was applied to the same central sites. Few males responded to systemic progesterone and none to intracranial cholesterol. Intradiencephalic Metycaine, a local anesthetic, induced lordosis in 8 males that previously had responded to central progesterone. Estrogen and progesterone may act synergistically to induce lordosis in male rats when progesterone is administered directly to sensitive brain sites.