Effects of Lesions of Nucleus taeniae on Appetitive and Consummatory Aspects of Male Sexual Behavior in Japanese Quail

Abstract

Neurochemical, hodological and functional criteria suggest that the nucleus taeniae and parts of the adjacent archistriatum represent the avian homologue of parts of the mammalian amygdaloid complex. It has been proposed in particular that the nucleus taeniae is the homologue of the mammalian medial amygdala. In male quail, relatively large lesions to the posterior/medial archistriatum selectively decrease the expression of appetitive sexual behavior in a manner reminiscent of similar manipulations involving the medial amygdala in mammals. We investigated the effects of discrete lesions restricted to nucleus taeniae and of lesions to an adjacent part of the archistriatum (pars intermedium ventralis, AIv) on the expression of appetitive (ASB) and consummatory (CSB) aspects of male sexual behavior. ASB was measured by a learned social proximity response (after copulation a male quail stands in front of a window providing visual access to a female) and by the frequency of rhythmic cloacal sphincter movements. CSB was assessed by the frequency of mount attempts (MA) and cloacal contact movements (CCM). Lesions confined to nucleus taeniae and to AIv did not influence the acquisition or the maintenance of the two responses indicative of ASB. In contrast, lesions of nucleus taeniae significantly increased the occurrence frequencies of MA and CCM when administered before the beginning of behavior testing and increased the frequency of MA only when performed on sexually experienced subjects. No effect of AIv lesions could be detected. The discrepancy between these results and previous experiments in quail might reflect procedural differences, but more probably differences in locations of the lesions that were restricted in the current study to the anterior part of taeniae. Those in the Thompson study were in the posterior part of this nucleus. These findings indicate that there is a larger degree of functional heterogeneity in the nucleus taeniae than previously thought. The effects of taeniae lesions suggest that this nucleus, similar to the medial amygdala in mammals, might be implicated in the control of sexual satiety.

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.…”

Revised nomenclature for avian telencephalon and some related brainstem nuclei

“…The Forum also concluded that hodological, developmental, neurochemical, and behavioral evidence supported the amygdaloid nature of the taenia and posterior archistriatum (Zeier and Karten, 1971;Veenman et al, 1995b;Lanuza et al, 2000;Puelles et al, 2000;Absil et al, 2002;Roberts et al, 2002). By contrast, the anterior, intermediate, and at least parts of the medial archistriatum have largely somatic features, making them unlike the amygdala in mammals (Zeier and Karten, 1971;Veenman et al, 1995b;Davies et al, 1997;Mello et al, 1998b;Reiner et al, 2002;Wada et al, 2001).…”

“…Based on neurochemical and developmental data, it seemed overwhelmingly clear to the Forum that all parts of the archistriatum (i.e., the regions with the word archistriatum in their name) as defined in Karten and Hodos (1967) and in Kuenzel and Masson (1988) are pallial Wada et al, 2001, Reiner et al, 2002Sun et al, 2003). The Forum further concluded that the taenia (also called the nucleus taeniae) has typically been regarded as a part of the archistriatal complex, although this was not reflected in its name (Ariëns-Kappers et al, 1936;Zeier and Karten, 1971;Thompson et al, 1998;Chen et al, 1999;Absil et al, 2002) and that much or all of the taenia is subpallial (Foidart et al, 1999;Cobos et al, 2001b;Absil et al, 2002).…”

“…Of note, amygdaloid features of the nucleus taeniae have been shown by recent neurochemical, connectional, developmental. and functional studies (Balthazart et al, 1992(Balthazart et al, , 1998Cheng et al, 1999;Foidart et al, 1999;Lanuza et al, 2000;Cobos et al, 2001b, Absil et al, 2002Roberts et al, 2002). For this reason, the Forum recommended that the nucleus taeniae be renamed the nucleus taeniae of the amygdala (Table 5, Fig.…”

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

“…In quail, steroid-sensitive areas such as the medial part of the bed nucleus striae terminalis and parts of the arcopallium including the nucleus taeniae of the amygdala are also clearly involved as indicated by a number of studies based on targeted electrolytic lesions and on the analysis of c-fos expression [2,29,49,137,140]. This is also clearly the case and documented in more detail in other species such as rodents in which areas such as the parts of the amygdala play a critical role in the integration of chemosensory and hormonal cues mediating mating behavior [99,154,155].…”