Olfactory bulb removal: effects on sexual behavior and partner-preference in male rats.
Control and bilaterally bulbectomized male rats were tested in an arena where the male could choose to spend time with (and mate with) a sexually receptive female, a nonreceptive female, or be in a neutral compartment. Control males mated with, and showed a strong preference for, sexually receptive females. Bulbectomy virtually eliminated mating. In addition, bulbectomized males showed no preference for a receptive female over a nonreceptive female, and spent their time equally between the receptive female, the nonreceptive female, and the neutral compartment. Effects of bulbectomy on preference and copulation could be consequences of a severely impaired ability to smell--the perception of odors may be essential for sexual arousal, or the absence of preference and copulation after bulbectomy might reflect a deficit in the male's ability to make odor-dependent classification of conspecifics as appropriate sexual partners. Or the behavioral effects of bulbectomy might reflect a disruption of tonic input to the forebrain that has little or nothing to do with the sensory impairment that follows bulb removal. But whatever the reason, in partner-preference tests bulbectomized males show a striking indifference to the sexual status of females, and it seems likely that the failure to mate is causally linked to this effect of surgery.
Edwards
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DA
Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.
Griffis
K T
KT
Tardivel
C
C
D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003307:Copulation / Q000502:physiology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D012931:Social Environment