Double perinatal stress reduces the sexual response of adult female Wistar rats.

Background: Early-life stress affects physiological development and produces changes in various aspects of emotional behavior.

Aim: We sought to examine the effects of double perinatal stress (DPS)-a combination of prenatal systemic hypoxic-ischemic (HI) insults and repeated early maternal separation-on the estrus cycle and sexual behavior of adult rats.

Methods: HI was induced by clamping the uterine arteries of pregnant rats for 45 minutes on the 18th day of gestation (HI group).