The importance of the peripeduncular nucleus in the neuroendocrine control of sexual behavior and milk ejection in the rat
Abstract
Electrocoagulations situated in the lateral midbrain tegmentum cause severe deficits in sexual behavior and lactational performance of rats. In this study we determined the extent to which these effects could be reproduced by axon-sparing lesions using the excitotoxin, ibotenic acid; in another group of rats, 6-OHDA was infused in the same area to degenerate the mesencephalic catecholamine neuronal elements affected by the electrocoagulations. It was found that ibotenic acid, but not 6-OHDA, reproduced most of the effects produced by electrolytic lesions. Thus, female rats bearing ibotenic acid lesions showed little sexual receptivity and proceptivity in response to estrogen and progestin treatment, and the milk ejection reflex appeared nonfunctional following the lesion. Ibotenic acid-infused male rats failed to ejaculate on most postoperative observations, though they continued to mount he estrous female. Examination of the lesions with immunohistochemical visualization of tyrosine-hydroxylase- and substance P-positive neurons, and thionine staining, revealed that the neurotoxins exhibited the intended selectivity, though the ibotenic acid lesions were associated with loss of substance P-immunoreactive nerve terminals in the substantia nigra and the peripeduncular region. It is suggested that the peripeduncular nucleus plays an important role in the neuroendocrine control of male and female copulatory behavior, as well as in the regulation of the milk ejection reflex.
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The PIL is considered a relay center by which sensory information is conveyed to other brain regions for the generation of relevant social behaviors.
“The posterior intralaminar complex of the thalamus (PIL) is considered a relay center by which sensory information is conveyed to other brain regions for the generation of relevant social behaviors (1-6).”
From Social Interaction Elicits Activity in Glutamatergic Neurons in the Posterior Intralaminar Complex of the Thalamus (2024) · cites this paper as [5]
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Connections of the rat lateral septal complex 1Published on the World Wide Web on 2 June 1997. 1
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- Authors
- Hansen, S., & Köhler, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Gothenburg (SE)
- AstraZeneca (Sweden) (SE)
- Venue
- Neuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- S. Karger AG
- Published
- 2008-03-28
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 563-572
- ISSN
- 0028-3835 (ISSN-L)
- 1423-0194
- OpenAlex
- W2095295408
- Cited by
- 71
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 3.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- sexual behavior, milk ejection reflex, lactation, neuroendocrine regulation, ibotenic acid lesions, 6-hydroxydopamine, catecholaminergic neurons, substantia nigra, substance P, tyrosine hydroxylase, mating behavior, electrocoagulation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Body Weight, Dopamine, Female, Hydroxydopamines, Ibotenic Acid, Lactation, Male, Milk Ejection, Nerve Degeneration, Neurosecretory Systems, Pregnancy, Rats, Inbred Strains, Sexual Behavior, Animal, Tegmentum Mesencephali, Oxidopamine, Rats
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