Sexual stimulation activates c-fos within estrogen-concentrating regions of the female rat forebrain

Pfaus, James G.; Kleopoulos, Steven P.; Mobbs, Charles V.; Gibbs, Robert G.; Pfaff, Donald W.

doi:10.1016/0006-8993(93)90085-2

Cited by 224 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 71 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

124

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although other researchers [10,33,34,38,41,46] ob served Fos-IR in the MPOA, BNST and MEA following vaginocervical stimulation, we did not observe any induc tion of Fos-IR in the MPN, MEApd or BNSTpm following eight intromissions. This contrast can be explained by the differences in the amount or intensity of vaginocervical stimulation used to induce Fos-IR in the different studies.…”

Section: Vaginocervical Stimulationcontrasting

confidence: 92%

“…Stronger induction of Fos-IR was detected following intro missions, although these were not accompanied by a higher expression of lordosis behavior. These findings are consis tent with observations by Pfaus et al [33] and by Rowe and Erskine [38], that manual flank stimulation or mount ing by males induced lower numbers of Fos-IR in this region compared to the number of Fos-IR neurons follow ing vaginocervical stimulation by manual probing or by intromissions including ejaculation.…”

Section: Lordosis Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Fos-IR in females following mating including ejacula tion was induced in the MPN, BNSTpm, MEApd and SPFp, confirming observations by several investigators [10,12,33,34,38,46]. Although induction of Fos-IR in these specific brain areas was also observed in males, the suc cessive elements of sexual behavior in females resulted in a different pattern of induction when compared with the induction pattern in males.…”

Section: Fos-jr In Femalessupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Several investiga tors have reported that Fos-IR is induced following mating in female rodents in the MPOA, BNST, MEA, central Male rats were allowed to copulate during four or live pre-test mating sessions and were included after displaying ejaculation within the first 10 min of the last two mating sessions. The female rats were bilaterally ovariectomized tegmental field, ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH), and periaquaductal gray (PAG) [10,21,33,34,38,42,46]. It was also reported that vaginocervical stimulation, by intromissions and ejaculations of the male partner or by manual probing, was followed by a three weeks prior to testing.…”

Section: Experimental Protocolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sexual receptivity was in duced using a standard regimen of exogenous estrogen and progesterone. This includes administration of 50 fig estra diol benzoate (EB)/0.1 ml arachidis-oil 48 h before test ing, and 500 /¿g progesterone (P)/0.1 ml arachidis oil 4 h much stronger induction of Fos-IR than the Fos-IR after lordosis behavior induced by flank stimulation [33,38,42]. Since vaginocervical stimulation seems to be essential for the induction of Fos-IR in the female brain, we were interested to know which phases of sexual behavior induce Fos-IR in specific parts of the brain.…”

Section: Experimental Protocolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Fos immunoreactivity in the rat brain following consummatory elements of sexual behavior: a sex comparison

1996

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Vaginocervical Stimulationcontrasting

confidence: 92%

Section: Lordosis Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Fos-jr In Femalessupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Experimental Protocolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Experimental Protocolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Fos immunoreactivity in the rat brain following consummatory elements of sexual behavior: a sex comparison

1996

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Anatomical interrelationships of the medial preoptic area and other brain regions activated following male sexual behavior: A combined Fos and tract-tracing study

1998

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The medial preoptic nucleus (MPN) is an essential site for the regulation of male sexual behavior. Previous studies using c-fos as a marker for neural activation have shown that copulation increased c-fos expression in the MPN. Neural activation was also present in brain regions that are connected with the MPN and are involved in male sexual behavior, including the posteromedial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTpm), posterodorsal preoptic nucleus (PD), posterodorsal medial amygdala (MEApd), and parvocellular subparafascicular thalamic nucleus (SPFp). The present study investigated whether the copulation-induced, activated neurons in these brain regions are involved in the bidirectional connections with the MPN. Therefore, mating-induced Fos expression was combined with application of anterograde (biotinylated dextran amine) or retrograde (cholera toxin B subunit) tracers in the MPN. The results demonstrated that neurons in the BNSTpm, PD, MEApd, and SPFp that project to the MPN were activated following copulation. However, in males that displayed sexual behavior but did not achieve ejaculation, few double-labeled neurons were evident, although both retrogradely labeled neurons and Fos-immunoreactive cells were present. In addition, retrograde neurons that expressed Fos were located in discrete subdivisions within the brain regions studied, where Fos is induced after ejaculation. Likewise, anterogradely labeled fibers originating from the MPN were not distributed homogeneously but were particularly dense in these discrete subdivisions. These results demonstrate that copulation-induced Fos-positive neurons in specific subdivisions of the BNSTpm, PD, MEApd, and SPFp have bidirectional connections with the MPN. Taken together with previous findings, this supports the existence of a discrete subcircuit within a larger neural network underlying male sexual behavior.

show abstract

Induction of c-Fos-like and FosB-like immunoreactivity reveals forebrain neuronal populations involved differentially in pup-mediated maternal behavior in juvenile and adult rats

Kalinichev¹,

Rosenblatt²,

Nakabeppu³

et al. 2000

J. Comp. Neurol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Juvenile rats can exhibit maternal behavior after being exposed continuously to rat pups, a process called sensitization. Maternal behavior in juveniles is robust and is similar to adult maternal behavior (Mayer and Rosenblatt [1979] Dev. Psychobiol. 12:407–424; Gray and Chesley [684] J. Comp. Psychol. 98:91–99). In this study, immunocytochemical detection of the protein products of two immediate‐early genes, c‐fos and fosB, was used as a tool to identify forebrain neuronal populations involved in the maternal behavior of 27‐day‐old juvenile rats compared with 60‐day‐old adults. To sensitize them, rats were exposed continuously to foster pups. Once they were maternal, they were isolated from pups overnight, reexposed to pups for 2 hours, and then killed. Nonmaternal control animals also were isolated overnight and were either reexposed to pups for 2 hours or kept isolated from pups before killing. The lateral habenula (LH) was the only area in which both maternal juveniles and maternal adults had more c‐Fos‐immunoreactive (‐Ir) neurons compared with controls. In maternal adults, the number of neurons that expressed c‐Fos and FosB immunoreactivity increased in the medial preoptic area (MPO) and the ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTv), whereas the dorsal bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTd) and the medial and cortical nuclei of the amygdala (MEA and COA, respectively) had increases only in the number of neurons that expressed c‐Fos immunoreactivity. In contrast, juveniles, whether or not they were maternal, had the same number of c‐Fos‐IR and FosB‐Ir neurons in all these areas. The adult‐like increase in the number of c‐Fos‐Ir neurons found in maternal juveniles suggests that the juvenile LH participates in the neural circuit that supports maternal behavior in an adult‐like manner. The lack of c‐fos or fosB induction in the MPO, BSTv, BSTd, COA, or MEA of maternal juveniles compared with maternal adults may reflect the immaturity of these brain regions in juvenile rats. Exactly what this immaturity consists of and when the responses of these regions become adult‐like remain to be determined. J. Comp. Neurol. 416:45–78, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

show abstract

Sexual stimulation activates c-fos within estrogen-concentrating regions of the female rat forebrain

Cited by 224 publications

References 71 publications

Fos immunoreactivity in the rat brain following consummatory elements of sexual behavior: a sex comparison

Fos immunoreactivity in the rat brain following consummatory elements of sexual behavior: a sex comparison

Anatomical interrelationships of the medial preoptic area and other brain regions activated following male sexual behavior: A combined Fos and tract-tracing study

Induction of c-Fos-like and FosB-like immunoreactivity reveals forebrain neuronal populations involved differentially in pup-mediated maternal behavior in juvenile and adult rats

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About