A galanin-positive population of lumbar spinal cord neurons modulates sexual arousal and copulatory behavior in male mice

Abstract

Abstract During sex, male arousal builds to the ejaculatory threshold, allowing genital sensory input to trigger ejaculation. While copulation and arousal are thought to be brain-regulated, ejaculation is a reflex controlled by a spinal circuit. In this framework, the spinal cord is assumed to be strongly inhibited by descending input until the ejaculatory threshold, playing no role in the regulation of copulatory behavior. However, this remains untested. Here we mapped the spinal circuit controlling the bulbospongiosus muscle, essential for sperm expulsion in mice. Our findings show that bulbospongiosus muscle-motor neurons receive input from galanin-expressing neurons, which integrate genital sensory signals. Stimulating these neurons induces bulbospongiosus activity, but responses vary with spinalization, internal state, and decrease with repeated stimulation. Ablating galanin-positive neurons altered ejaculation latency and copulatory patterns. These results suggest that spinal circuits influence not only ejaculation but also copulation and arousal, challenging the traditional view of spinal control in copulation.