Meeting Abstract

79.5  Tuesday, Jan. 6  Sex and Prostaglandin: Towards a Mechanistic View of Mate Choice KIDD, M.R.*; HOFMANN, H.A.; Univ. of Texas at Austin mrkidd@mail.utexas.edu

Mate choice is regulated by the complex interaction of endogenous and exogenous cues interpreted and mediated by the brain in order to maximize reproductive success. In teleosts, the regulation of female sexual behavior is based on either steroid (Poeciliids) or prostaglandin (all other teleosts) responsive systems. However, considering the astonishing diversity of teleost mating strategies, it is surprising that the proximate mechanisms controlling female sexual behavior have been well studied in only a few species with similar reproductive strategies. We examined the effects of the fatty acid derivative prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2) on female sexual behavior and mate choice in the lek-breeding African cichlid fish, Astatotilapia burtoni , a major model system for studying the neural mechanisms underlying socially regulated plasticity in brain and behavior. While PGF2 is considered to be one of the principal endogenous cues eliciting female sexual behavior in teleosts, our results suggest that endogenous levels of PGF2 are in a marked state of decline as spawning approaches. However, when we administered exogenous PGF2 (0.1g/g body weight) to non-reproductive females in a simultaneous choice paradigm they exhibited a proceptive response (visiting behavior) toward the more attractive male (ANOVA, p<0.05), yet failed to complete the full suite of sexual behaviors typically associated with cichlid mate choice. Importantly, the effect of exogenous PGF2 on female sexual behavior is mediated by both social context and the prior priming of stimulus males with female pheromones. These results indicate a previously unreported, secondary control over the PGF2 induced sexual response, which may be a prerequisite for the prolonged period of male assessment exhibited by females in polygamous cichlid species.