Title: | Experience facilitates vomeronasal and olfactory influence on Fos expression in medial preoptic area during pheromone exposure or mating in male hamsters |
Address: | "Program in Neuroscience (4340), Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4340, USA" |
DOI: | 10.1016/s0006-8993(02)02613-6 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 0006-8993 (Print) 0006-8993 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Chemosensory stimuli are essential for mating in male hamsters but either main olfactory or vomeronasal input is sufficient in sexually experienced males. Activation in central chemosensory pathways and medial preoptic area, after stimulation with female chemosignals or after mating, was estimated by counting neurons expressing Fos protein in experienced and naive males, with or without vomeronasal organ lesions. Regions counted included main and accessory olfactory bulbs, corticomedial amygdala, bed nucleus stria terminalis and medial preoptic area. Chemosensory stimulation was more effective in activating medial preoptic area in experienced than in naive males. In experienced males with vomeronasal organs removed, main olfactory input was as effective in activating medial preoptic area as was the combination of main and accessory input available to intact animals. As previously reported, the main olfactory input remaining after vomeronasal lesions in naive males was poorly effective in activating medial preoptic area, and these animals had impaired mating behavior. The change in access of chemosensory input to medial preoptic area after experience suggests that an experience-dependent synaptic modulation in this pathway, perhaps in the amygdala, may underlie some changes in mating behavior with experience" |
Keywords: | Amygdala/metabolism Animals Cricetinae Female Gene Expression Regulation *Learning Male Olfactory Bulb/metabolism *Pheromones/administration & dosage Preoptic Area/*metabolism Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/*metabolism Septal Nuclei/metabolism *Sexual Beha;neuroscience; |
Notes: | "MedlineFewell, Gwendolyn D Meredith, Michael eng DC 00906/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/ Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. Netherlands 2002/05/29 Brain Res. 2002 Jun 21; 941(1-2):91-106. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(02)02613-6" |