Performance of appetitive or consummatory components of male sexual behavior is mediated by different brain areas: a 2-deoxyglucose autoradiographic study

Abstract

Abstract-The in vivo autoradiographic deoxyglucose method was used to identify the functional brain circuits that are involved in the performance of appetitive and consummatory components of male sexual behavior in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). Two groups of castrated, testosterone-treated male quail were trained during 12 sessions to associate the view of a female behind a window with the opportunity to interact freely and to copulate with her. They developed, as a consequence, a social proximity response (staying close and looking through the window providing a view of the female) that has been used in previous experiments to measure appetitive sexual behavior. A third control group (also castrated and treated with testosterone) was allowed to view the female but not to copulate with her and therefore did not develop this proximity response. 2-14 C-deoxyglucose was then injected i.p. to these birds and they were allowed to either copulate freely with a female (consummatory sexual behavior group) or express the social proximity response (appetitive sexual behavior group). The control group was provided a view of the female but these birds, although they were exposed to the same stimuli as birds in the appetitive group, did not express the social proximity response because they had never learned the association with the opportunity to copulate. Birds were killed 45 min after the deoxyglucose injection and their brains were processed for autoradiography. Densitometric analyses of the autoradiograms revealed that the expression of appetitive or consummatory aspects of male sexual behavior was associated with significant increases by comparison with the control group in the deoxyglucose incorporation in the nucleus mesencephalicus lateralis, pars dorsalis and in the nucleus leminsci lateralis. In addition, an increase in the deoxyglucose incorporation was specifically observed in the paleostriatum primitivum, rostral preoptic area, nucleus intercollicularis, nucleus interpeduncularis and third nerve but a decrease was observed in the dorsomedial part of the hippocampus and in the nucleus nervi oculomotori in birds of the consummatory sexual behavior group by comparison with controls. By contrast, in the appetitive sexual behavior group, significant increases in deoxyglucose incorporation were observed in two telencephalic areas, the intermediate hyperstriatum ventrale and neostriatum caudolaterale by comparison with the controls, but decreases were detected in the stratum griseum et fibrosum superficiale of optic tectum by comparison with the consummatory behavior group.These studies demonstrate that the performance of appetitive or consummatory components of male sexual behavior affects in a specific manner the deoxyglucose uptake and accumulation in specific regions of the quail brain. Changes in metabolic activity were observed in steroid-sensitive areas, in auditory, visual and vocal brain regions, and in brain nuclei related to motor behavior but also in association telencephalic and limbic structures. T...

Serotonin 5-HT1A receptor binding sites in the brain of the pigeon (Columba livia)

“…This finding matches with the presence of a high density of 5-HT fibers and terminals in IP (Challet et al, 1996), and is in line with other autoradiography studies in human and rats that also showed high binding sites for 5-HT receptors in IP (Palacios et al, 1983;Kaulen et al, 1986). In birds IP has been implicated in appetitive and consummatory male sexual behavior (Dermon et al, 1999). Further, a lesion study in rats showed that IP is enclosed in a network of controlling avoidance behavior (Hammer and Klingberg, 1990).…”

Inhibition of Steroid Receptor Coactivator-1 Blocks Estrogen and Androgen Action on Male Sex Behavior and Associated Brain Plasticity

“…This increased expression of SRC-1 in ASSC birds is likely to have caused the major increase in behavioral frequencies because no changes in plasma testosterone were expected to occur during this short period (SILASTIC capsules release testosterone at a constant rate; see Materials and Methods). Previous work also indicates that, once castrated male quail treated with SILASTIC implants filled with testosterone have reached their maximal sexual activity, the frequencies of behaviors they express during repeated testing (up to 10 tests) remain stable for extended periods of at least 1 or 2 weeks (Balthazart et al, 1988Dermon et al, 1999;Tlemçani et al, 2000;Absil et al, 2002b). Spontaneous changes in behavioral frequency of the magnitude detected here (doubling or more) were never observed in any of these studies.…”

Topography in the preoptic region: Differential regulation of appetitive and consummatory male sexual behaviors

“…Conversely, a large number of studies in a variety of species indicate that stereotaxic implants of testosterone in the mPOA activate most if not all aspects of male copulatory behavior [32,80]. The implication of the mPOA in the control of male sexual behavior is also attested by experiments demonstrating that performance of this behavior increases neuronal activity in this brain region as assessed by an increase in 2-deoxyglucose incorporation [60], cytochrome oxidase activity [122] or increased transcription of immediate early genes such as c-fos or egr-1 (also know as Zenk in the avian literature) [49,56,76,93,118,134,153].…”