Lima, SusanaCorreia Dias, Inês2025-11-052025-10-092025-05-30http://hdl.handle.net/10362/190146"Internal state-dependent behavioral flexibility, such as the ability to switch between sexual acceptance and rejection across the reproductive cycle, is essential for reproductive success and social interactions. Female sexual behavior is orchestrated by hormonal and neuronal mechanisms that integrate external stimuli with the reproductive cycle, influencing the copulatory behavior. These mechanisms synchronize behavioral receptivity with reproductive capacity, ensuring that copulation occurs during optimal reproductive windows, while actively suppressing sexual behavior outside fertile periods. A key brain region in this process is the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl), which contains hormone receptor-expressing neurons, including those expressing the progesterone receptor (VMHvlPR+). While the VMHvl has long been associated with female sexual receptivity, recent evidence highlights its cellular, transcriptomic and functional heterogeneity.(...)"engSexual behaviorPeriaqueductal gray (PAG)miceVentromedial hypothalamus (VMHv1)doctoral thesis101834659