Effects of prenatal morphine exposure on rat heterotypical sexual behavior

Prenatal exposure to morphine inhibits ovarian steroid-dependent lordosis behavior in female rats, and enhances certain components of male sexual behavior in male rats. In the present study, the effects of mid to late gestational morphine exposure on male sexual behavior in females and on female sexual behavior in males were examined in adult offspring. Gonadectomized male rats were injected at weekly intervals with 30 or 60 microg estradiol benzoate and 1.0 mg progesterone and tested for female sexual behavior with stimulus males on 2 consecutive weekly tests. Ovariohysterectomized (OVX) females were injected with 500 microg testosterone propionate (TP) daily for 15 days and tested for male sexual behavior with stimulus females on the last day of TP injection and 1 week later, after TP withdrawal. Prenatal morphine exposure increased the expression of male sexual behaviors in female rats, but it did not increase lordosis behavior in male rats. Thus, exposure to morphine during gestation alters male and female sexual behavior in young adult animals. Because prenatal morphine exposure both defeminized and masculinized adult sexual behavior in female rats, it is possible that female brain development is more vulnerable to prenatal insult such as opiate exposure.