Occurrence of lordosis-like posture in male and female mice given manual stimulation during the early period of anesthesia.

Normal estrous or diestrous female, ovariectomized female and estrogen plus progestin-primed, ovariectomized female mice of the ICR/JCL strain adopted a lordosis-like posture (LLP) in response to manual stimulation of the dorsal rump when they stood at the initiation of barbiturate anesthesia. Normal and castrated male mice also adopted a LLP following manual stimulation at the commencement of barbiturate anesthesia. In contrast, approximately 60% of anesthetized female mice at day 14 of gestation showed LLP without any tactile stimulation. In these pregnant mice, manual stimulation never brought about any change in the LLP incidence at the initiation of barbiturate anesthesia.