Psychosomatic Medicine 21:204-207 (1959)
© 1959 American Psychosomatic Society

The Effect of Psychosexual Stimuli on an Archaic Reproductive Cycle

¹ Department of Pathology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Coral Gables, Fla.

It has recently been shown that measurements of the Zn⁶⁵ uptake by the DLP of the laboratory rat throughout the year revealed an archaic reproductive cycle. At the same time it was shown that the degree of sensitivity-response of the DLP of the castrate to androgen coincided with this archaic cycle. The introduction of psychosexual stimuli, i.e., either by actual contact with a female or by the mere presence of a female without direct contact, increased the Zn⁶⁵ uptake by the DLP only in the high sensitivity phase of the archaic reproductive cycle. In contrast, when the sensitivity of the archaic cycle was low, psychosexual stimuli were ineffective.