Research in the Guarraci Lab

Click here to read about the Southwestern Students that have assisted me in my research.

Based on research that I conducted at Dartmouth College with my mentor Ann S. Clark, students at Southwestern and I have been further investigating the neural mechanisms controlling paced mating behavior in female rats. Paced mating behavior can be observed in a chamber that separates the male from the female but allows the female to visit the male for sexual stimulation at her desired interval. Paced mating behavior is only observed in females that are sexually receptive and depends on confining the male to his compartment. We typically observed paced mating behavior in one female and one male. We have been interested in understanding how different drugs that affect dopamine and serotonin alter paced mating behavior and other measures of female motivation. For example, students have studied how drugs such as fluoxetine and clomipramine (common anti-depressants) disrupt sexual motivation in females rats. Furthermore, we have extending our previous research on dopaminergic drugs, such as amphetamine, and have started to identify locations in the brain where these drugs might be working to affect paced mating behavior.

Most recently, we have been using a Mating Preference Paradigm, whereby females can choose between two potential mates and mate with them both simultaneously, to better understand mate selection and how typical measures of paced mating behavior may be related to mate preferences. Finally, to understand if mate selection has adaptive significance, students -- with the help of Dr. Foote in Biochemistry, have been investigating if mate preferences translate into increases in fecundity by examining paternity of offspring fathered by Preferred Mates and NON-Preferred Mates.

Video Clip Fay 5
In this video clip you can see a male Long Evans rat mating with a female Long Evans rat. They are both confined to  a small chamber preventing the female from exerting control over the mating situation.

Video Clip Fay 2
In this video clip you can see a female Long Evans rat controlling sexual contact with a male Long Evans rat in a chamber typically used to study paced mating behavior. In this chamber only the female (CENTER) can move between compartments of the chamber (her CENTER compartment and the MALE on the left’s compartment).