Fig. 3. The effects of neural ERα^NesCre deletion on sexual behavior in males.

a Percentage of control (ERα^fl/fl) and mutant males (ERα^NesCre) reaching ejaculation in tests 1 (naive animals) and 2 (sexually experienced). Data are shown as percentages. b Latencies to mount (M), intromit (MI) and to reach ejaculation (Ej) for control and mutant males (n = 10 per genotype) on Test 1 and Test 2. Significant differences between the two genotype are indicated; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 versus controls. c Mating duration from the first mount to ejaculation was higher in mutant males (***p < 0.001 and **p < 0.01 in Tests 1 and 2, respectively) (n = 10 per genotype). d Olfactory preference of sexually experienced control and mutant male mice (n = 11 per genotype), expressed as the percentage of total time spent sniffing the stimuli. The stimulus effect (#p < 0.05) is indicated. e Representative sound waveform for control and mutant males in the presence of a sexually receptive female during a 4-min test. f, g Total number of emitted ultrasonic vocalizations USV (f) and number of each syllable (g) produced by sexually experienced males (n = 10–11 per genotype). h, i Total duration of emitted USV (h) and duration of each syllable (i). *p < 0.05, or **p < 0.01 versus controls (n = 10–11 per genotype). Instead stated otherwise, data are shown as means ± S.E.M. with individual values.