Effects of Trazodone Hydrochloride on Sexual Function of Male Rats

OBJECTIVE To study the effect of trazodone hydrochloride on sexual function of castrated male rats. METHODS Fifty castrated male rats were divided into mode control group (with normal sodium), high, medium and low doses trazodone groups (84.0, 42.0, 10.5 mg·kg-1·d^-1) and viagra positive control group (46.5 mg·kg^-1·d^-1) of 10 rats each. Another 10 healthy male rats were enrolled for normal controls group. After the male rats were mated with their female counters in pairs, the sexual behavior were recorded: mount latency (ML), intromission latency (IL), postejaculatory interval (PEI), intromission interval （II）and mount frequency (MF) in 40 minutes, intromission frequency in 40 minutes (IF), chase frequency in 40 minutes (CF), hit rate. RESULTS The trazodone of the 3 doses for the castrated male rats and of the high and medium doses for the normal male rats have not a better effect for regulation of sexual function. Compared with the mode control, IL, PEI, II, ML were significantly shortened after the use of trazodone (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The CF and hit rate in 40 minutes were significantly increased after the use of trazodone (P<0.05). CONCLUSION The sexual function of castrated male rats treated with trazodone have no significant effects. The sexual function of normal male rats treated with the high and medium doses of trazodone have no significant effects also. The low doses of trazodone can obviously improve the sexuality of normal male rats.