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

Abstract

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.

Site-specific effects of anosmia and cloacal gland anesthesia on Fos expression induced in male quail brain by sexual behavior

“…In quail, a large number of studies based on stereotaxic electrolytic lesions [9,16] or steroid implantation [15,17] have confirmed the critical role of this nucleus in the regulation of male sexual behavior [11]. The present study provides additional confirmation that the mPOA is involved in the expression of male sexual behavior given that a significant increase in Fos expression was found in this area in birds that had copulated with a female as compared to birds that remained in their home cages.…”

“…The medial preoptic area (mPOA) is also a key site for the control of motor outputs related to sexual behavior as demonstrated by prominent connections between the mPOA and the periaqueductal gray [11]. Because the PAG also displays multiple connections with more caudal mesencephalic and pontine structures [12], this brain structure is though to represent a premotor nucleus connecting the forebrain with specific brainstem nuclei as part of a network involved in the control of male sexual behavior [6].…”

Brain activation pattern depends on the strategy chosen by zebra finches to solve an orientation task

“…We have instead observed a reciprocal activation within the hippocampus/parahippocampus and the LMN, and there was no activity difference between the groups in our control area, the preoptic area, which plays a role in controlling sexual behaviour (e.g. Balthazart and Ball, 2007;Panzica et al, 1996) but has not as yet been shown to be involved in orientation tasks.…”

Brain imaging reveals neuronal circuitry underlying the crow’s perception of human faces

“…4 A and C). These areas are known to be important to associative learning, motivation, and autonomic functions including hunger in vertebrates (17,24), which suggests that crows perceived the association established between their caretakers and food. In crows, as in other animals including humans, it appears that both the striatum and the amygdala are critical to associative learning, with the former apparently broadly attuned to prediction errors and the latter often attuned to the reliability of threatening cues (16,20).…”