Sexual behavior increases c-fos expression in the forebrain of the male rat

Robertson, George S.; Pfaus, James G.; Atkinson, Logan; Matsumura, Hitoshi; Phillips, Anthony G.; Fibiger, Hans C.

doi:10.1016/0006-8993(91)91477-i

Cited by 159 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The ability of Peg3-KO males to successfully mate indicates that the mutation does not totally compromise the function of the MPOA; however, the absence of any increased MPOA response to female urine in p3-SE males suggests that the association between mating and female odors does not occur in the mutant animals and that the MPOA may be an important site for the sexual experience-dependent changes in behavior seen in the wt animals. The NAc is part of the brain's mesolimbic reward system, which mediates reinforcement (37) and is activated both by mating (38) and exposure to female odors (39). The NAc receives a projection from the accessory olfactory system through the medial amygdala (27), suggesting links with the accessory olfactory system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic imprinting mediates sexual experience-dependent olfactory learning in male mice

Swaney

Curley

Champagne

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Mammalian imprinted genes are generally thought to have evolved as a result of conflict between parents; however, recent knockout studies suggest that coadaptation between mother and offspring may have been a significant factor. We present evidence that the same imprinted gene that regulates mammalian maternal care and offspring development also regulates male sexual behavior and olfaction. We have shown that the behavior of male mice carrying a knockout of the imprinted gene Peg3 does not change with sexual experience and that the mice are consequently unable to improve their copulatory abilities or olfactory interest in female odor cues after mating experience. Forebrain activation, as indexed by female odor-induced c-Fos protein induction, fails to increase with sexual experience, providing a neural basis for the behavioral deficits that the male mice display. The behavioral and neural effects of the Peg3 knockout show that this imprinted gene has evolved to regulate multiple and varied aspects of reproduction, from male sexual behavior to female maternal care, and the development of offspring. Moreover, sexual experience-driven behavioral changes may represent an adaptive response that enables males to increase their reproductive potential over their lifespan, and the effects we have found suggest that the evolution of genomic imprinting has been influenced by coadaptation between males and females as well as between females and offspring.accessory olfactory system ͉ coadaptation ͉ mammalian brain ͉ reward ͉ sexual behavior T he expression of certain mammalian autosomal genes in a parent-of-origin fashion was first demonstrated in the 1980s and termed ''genomic imprinting'' (1); since then, close to 100 maternally and paternally expressed imprinted genes have been identified (2). Over the last 20 years, the essential roles that imprinted genes play in development, particularly that of the brain, have become clear (3, 4), suggesting that imprinted genes might have enabled the evolutionary expansion of the mammalian brain (5). Most imprinted genes are strongly expressed in the placenta (6) and are involved in regulating fetal development (7). These developmental roles, in particular those of Igf2, Igf2r, Igf2AS, and H19, have been cited as evidence to support the conflict theory for the evolution of genomic imprinting (8). This theory posits that imprinted genes evolved with placentation in mammals as a result of parental conflict over offspring investment. The fetus/placenta is a genetically half-paternal structure that provides the father with an opportunity to manipulate the mother's investment in his offspring to the possible detriment of her potential future offspring. Thus, paternally expressed genes are predicted to enhance offspring growth, whereas maternally expressed genes are predicted to resist this as a result of an evolutionary ''arms race'' over levels of investment in offspring. However, work by our group on the paternally expressed gene Peg3 has shown that as well as regulating pup development...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic imprinting mediates sexual experience-dependent olfactory learning in male mice

Swaney

Curley

Champagne

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Conversely, a large number of studies in a variety of species indicate that stereotaxic implants of testosterone in the mPOA activate most if not all aspects of male copulatory behavior [32,80]. The implication of the mPOA in the control of male sexual behavior is also attested by experiments demonstrating that performance of this behavior increases neuronal activity in this brain region as assessed by an increase in 2-deoxyglucose incorporation [60], cytochrome oxidase activity [122] or increased transcription of immediate early genes such as c-fos or egr-1 (also know as Zenk in the avian literature) [49,56,76,93,118,134,153].…”

Section: The Preoptic Area As An Integration Center For the Control Omentioning

confidence: 95%

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

Balthazart

Ball

2007

Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology

193

168

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Several studies have suggested dissociations between neural circuits underlying the expression of appetitive (i.e. sexual motivation) and consummatory components (i.e., copulatory behavior) of vertebrate male sexual behavior. The medial preoptic area (mPOA) clearly controls the expression of male copulation but, according to a number of experiments, is not necessarily implicated in the expression of appetitive sexual behavior. In rats for example, lesions to the mPOA eliminate maletypical copulatory behavior but have more subtle or no obvious effects on measures of sexual motivation. Rats with such lesions still pursue and attempt to mount females. They also acquire and perform learned instrumental responses to gain access to females. However, recent lesions studies and measures of the expression of the immediate early gene c-fos demonstrate that, in quail, subregions of the mPOA, in particular of its sexually dimorphic component the medial preoptic nucleus, can be specifically linked with either the expression of appetitive or consummatory sexual behavior. In particular more rostral regions can be linked to appetitive components while more caudal regions are involved in consummatory behavior. This functional sub-region variation is associated with neurochemical and hodological specializations (i.e. differences in chemical phenotype of the cells or in their connectivity), especially those related to the actions of androgens in relation to the activation of male sexual behavior, that are also present in rodents and other species. It could thus reflect general principles about POA organization and function in the vertebrate brain.

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“…This finding, and the fact that Fos-immunoreactivity correlated with reward magnitude, but not with bar-pressing behaviour, suggests a reward-specific effect. In this regard, recent studies have shown that reward related behaviours such as sexual contact 38,46 or cocaine-induced place preference 4 as well as treatment with drugs of abuse 18,39,48 are associated with enhanced c-fos expression in the limbic forebrain of the rat. Limbic forebrain DAergic neurons have been repeatedly implicated in the mediation of rewardrelated processes.…”

Section: C-fos Expression and Pallidal Self-stimulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ventral pallidum self-stimulation induces stimulus dependent increase in c-fos expression in reward-related brain regions

et al. 1997

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Sexual behavior increases c-fos expression in the forebrain of the male rat

Cited by 159 publications

References 32 publications

Genomic imprinting mediates sexual experience-dependent olfactory learning in male mice

Genomic imprinting mediates sexual experience-dependent olfactory learning in male mice

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

Ventral pallidum self-stimulation induces stimulus dependent increase in c-fos expression in reward-related brain regions

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