SEXUALLY LOW PERFORMING MALE-RATS DIE EARLIER THAN THEIR HIGH PERFORMING PEERS AND (-)DEPRENYL TREATMENT ELIMINATES THIS DIFFERENCE

Out of 1600 sexually inexperienced 28-week old Wistar-Logan male rats 94 sexually inactive ('low performing', LP) and 99 highly active ('high performing', HP) rats were selected. The rats were treated from the 8th month of their life three times a week, subcutaneously, with either 0,9% NaCl or 0,25 mg/kg (-)deprenyl until they died. Their copulatory activity was tested once a week and their learning performance was measured in the shuttle box once in three months. The salt treated LP rats (n=44) never displayed ejaculation during their life time, they were extremely dull in the shuttle box and lived 134.58+/-2.29 weeks. Their (-)deprenyl-treated peers (n=48) became sexually active, their mating performance was substantially increased and lived 152.54+/-1.36 weeks, significantly longer than their salt-treated peers and as long as the salt-treated HP rats. The salt treated HP rats (n=49) displayed 14.04+/-0.56 ejaculations during the first 36-week testing period and due to aging they produced 2.47+/-0.23 ejaculations between the 73-10th week of testing. Their learning performance was high. They displayed 78.45+/-3.01 conditioned avoidance responses (CAR) during the first 36-week testing period, and this dropped to 50.67+/-2.99 (p<0.01) during the 73-108th week of testing. They lived 151.24+/-1,36 weeks, significantly (p<0.001) longer than their LP peers. The (-)depre-nyl-treated HP rats (n=50) were sexually much more active than their salt-treated peers. They displayed 30.04+/-0.85 ejaculations during the first 36-week testing period and 7.40+/-0.32 ejaculations between the 73-108th week of testing. Also their learning performance was substantially increased. They produced 113.98+/-3.23 CARs during the first 36-week-testing period and 81.68+/-2.14 CARs during the 73-108th week of testing. They Lived 185.30+/-1.96 weeks, significantly more than their salt-treated peers and out of the 50 rats 17 lived longer than the estimated technical life span (TLS).