Elsevier

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 60, Issue 5, November 1996, Pages 1347-1354
Physiology & Behavior

Hypothalamic and Olfactory Control of Sexual Behavior and Partner Preference in Male Rats

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(96)00260-0Get rights and content

Abstract

Sexually active male rats prefer a sexually receptive female to a nonreceptive female, and partner-preference tests provide one way of studying sexual motivation. Surgical deafferentation of the olfactory bulbs from all the known chemosensory systems of the nasal septum renders rats anosmic. In Experiment 1, we show that, although bulb deafferentation of male rats decreases some aspects of sexual performance, most deafferented males copulate and partner preference is not affected. In Experiment 2, we show that large excitotoxin lesions of the preoptic hypothalamus eliminate copulation, an effect that is correlated with damage to the anterior portions of the medial and lateral preoptic area. Lesions also decrease partner preference, an effect that is correlated (r = 0.82) with damage to a small part of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Most males who do not copulate after hypothalamic lesions show a persistent, albeit reduced, preference for receptive females over nonreceptive females. This preference appears to depend on olfactory ability because bulb deafferentation of lesioned, noncopulating males virtually eliminates partner preference.

Section snippets

EXPERIMENT 1. PERIPHERAL DEAFFERENTATION OF THE OLFACTORY BULBS: EFFECTS ON COPULATION AND PARTNER PREFERENCE

We reported that bilateral removal of the olfactory bulbs virtually eliminated mating and abolished a previously established preference for receptive females over nonreceptive females [7]. Effects of bulbectomy could be consequences of severely impaired olfactory perception, but might also result from a disruption of tonic input to the forebrain that has little or nothing to do with a sensory impairment per se. Larsson [18]reported that surgical deafferentation of the olfactory bulbs increased

EXPERIMENT 2. PERIPHERAL DEAFFERENTATION OF THE OLFACTORY BULBS ABOLISHES PARTNER PREFERENCE IN MALES WITH COPULATION-ELIMINATING MPAH LESIONS

Males with bilateral lesions of the MPAH show little or no mating, but continue to show a reliable preference for receptive females over nonreceptive females [6]. Although this preference is diminished relative to preoperative level, it is nonetheless clear that a strong and quite stable preference may persist for several months after lesioning. Preference could be maintained by inherently rewarding chemosensory cues unique to receptive females and/or olfactory cues that have acquired (through

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grants IBN-9021579 and IBN-9421208. The authors thank the 3 anonymous referees for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

References (35)

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