PMID- 8680425
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19960821
LR  - 20190920
IS  - 0953-8194 (Print)
IS  - 0953-8194 (Linking)
VI  - 5
IP  - 5
DP  - 1993 Oct
TI  - Mating-induced FOS-like immunoreactivity in the rat forebrain: a sex comparison 
      and a dimorphic effect of pelvic nerve transection.
PG  - 557-68
AB  - Previous research has shown that mating induces the expression of the 
      immediate-early gene, c-fos, as detected by the increased presence of nuclear 
      FOS-like immunoreactivity (FOS-IR), in specific forebrain regions of both male 
      and female rats. In the male both olfactory-vomeronasal (O/V) and 
      genital/somatosensory (G/S) inputs appear to contribute to the neural FOS 
      response to mating whereas in the female G/S input carried by the pelvic nerves 
      appears to mediate the forebrain FOS response. To date, however, no direct sex 
      comparison of the mating-induced forebrain FOS response has been made in rats 
      maintained under the same steroidal conditions nor has the contribution of 
      afferent sensory input from the pelvic nerves been assessed in males. We first 
      compared the level of FOS-IR in brain regions of mated and unpaired 
      gonadectomized male and female rats given 5 micrograms/kg estradiol benzoate (EB) 
      for 7 days and 500 micrograms progesterone (P) 4 h prior to testing. One h after 
      experiencing 1 ejaculation, both sexes showed increased FOS-IR in the medial 
      preoptic a (MPOA), bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), medial amygdala, 
      the ventro-lateral portion of the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMN), 
      and the midbrain central tegmental field (CTF). This increase was significantly 
      greater in the MPOA and medial amygdala of mated females than of males. Bilateral 
      transection of the pelvic nerves significantly attenuated the increase in FOS-IR 
      after mating in the CTF of male rats and in the MPOA, BNST, VMN, medial amygdala 
      and CTF of females. Thus, following mating there is no sex difference in the 
      brain regions which express c-fos, but there is a dimorphism in the contribution 
      of afferent information conveyed by the pelvic nerves to the mating-induced FOS 
      response. The neural FOS response of the female to mating is heavily dependent 
      upon the G/S afferent inputs carried by the pelvic nerves whereas the male's 
      neural c-fos response may depend on O/V input plus G/S input conveyed via other 
      efferent pathways such as the pudendal nerves.
FAU - Wersinger, S R
AU  - Wersinger SR
AD  - Department of Biology, Boston University, MA 02215, USA.
FAU - Baum, M J
AU  - Baum MJ
FAU - Erskine, M S
AU  - Erskine MS
LA  - eng
GR  - HD21094/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States
GR  - HD21802/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States
GR  - MH00392/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
PL  - United States
TA  - J Neuroendocrinol
JT  - Journal of neuroendocrinology
JID - 8913461
RN  - 0 (Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos)
RN  - 4TI98Z838E (Estradiol)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Ejaculation/physiology
MH  - Estradiol/pharmacology
MH  - Female
MH  - Immunohistochemistry
MH  - Male
MH  - Orchiectomy
MH  - Ovariectomy
MH  - Peripheral Nerves/*physiology
MH  - Preoptic Area/cytology/physiology
MH  - Prosencephalon/anatomy & histology/*metabolism
MH  - Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/*biosynthesis
MH  - Rats
MH  - Sex Characteristics
MH  - Sexual Behavior, Animal/*physiology
MH  - Thalamic Nuclei/physiology
MH  - Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus/cytology/metabolism
EDAT- 1993/10/01 00:00
MHDA- 1993/10/01 00:01
CRDT- 1993/10/01 00:00
PHST- 1993/10/01 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1993/10/01 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1993/10/01 00:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1111/j.1365-2826.1993.tb00522.x [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Neuroendocrinol. 1993 Oct;5(5):557-68. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2826.1993.tb00522.x.