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The anti-estrogen, Cl 628, was used to suppress the lordosis response induced by sequential injections of estrogen and progesterone in ovariectomired (OVX) female rats. Appropriate doses of Cl 628 completely abolished sexual receptivity in females administered estradiol benzoate (EB) in sesame oil. This behavioral effect could be attenuated by providing increased quantities of EB or decreased quantities of CI 628. Antiestrogenic effects on lordosis induced by free estradiol in saline (E) were assessed after first establishing behaviorally equivalent doses of EB and E. This was accomplished by determining thresholds for E-induced lordosis. OVX females were approximately seven times less sensitive to E than to EB. CI 628 had no significant effects on E-induced lordosis, in contrast to the complete abolition of lordosis in females treated with behaviorally equivalent EB doses. A possible mechanism to explain this differential responsiveness of EB-and E-treated females is discussed.

The influence of olfactory bulb removal on running activity, body weight, food and water consumption, and lateral hypothalamic self-stimulation rates was examined in the golden hamster. These experiments attempted to characterize more completely the behavioral and physiological deficits which might be related to the total abolition of male sexual behavior in hamsters produced by ablation of the olfactory bulbs. This operation depressed food consumption and body weight during the first 5-10 postoperative days only and had no effect on water intake. During the same postoperative period, running activity declined by 50% before returning to normal. Self-stimulation rates were reduced below normal during the first 2 postoperative days but returned to preoperative levels by 7 days. These transient effects of bulbectomy on the measured variables were contrasted with the permanent deficit in male sexual behavior which results from olfactory bulb removal.Olfactory bulb ablation dramatically affects a variety of rodent social behaviors. Copulation is eliminated in male hamsters and mice (Murphy & Schneider, 1970;Rowe & Edwards, 1972) and maternal, aggressive, and sexual responsiveness are affected to varying degrees in these and other species

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