The effects of implanting testosterone propionate into the central nervous system on the sexual behaviour of adrenalectomised female rhesus monkeys.

Bilateral adrenalectomy rendered ovariectomised, oestrogen-treated female rhesus monkeys sexually unreceptive. Small unilateral implants of testosterone propionate (mean weight 140 mug) into the anterior hypothalamus/preoptic area restored receptivity in 7 out of 8 of these monkeys. Cholesterol implanted into the same area, or similar amounts of testosterone propionate implanted into the posterior hypothalamus/pretectal area (4 females) or cerebral cortex/dorsal thalamus (5 monkeys) had no consistent effect on behaviour. It therefore seems likely that androgens regulate sexual receptivity in female monkeys by acting on some part of the anterior hypothalamus. Thus, though the hormonal control of receptivity in female primates differs from non-primates, the site on which hormones act to regulate this behaviour may be similar in both.