Impairment or abolition of lordosis in the golden hamster by transection of spinal pathways.
Lumbosacral and thoracic tactile stimulation elicits lordosis in sexually-receptive female hamsters. Because of the major dorsal column involvement in transmission of tactile activity, transection of this pathway was examined for effects on somatosensory elicitation of lordosis and compared with effects of lateral column (unilateral or bilateral) transections. Interruption of either pathway completely eliminated lordosis on some tests. Dorsal column section at cervical or lumbar levels produced a unique effect, however, where lumbosacral stimuli elicited the tail, rump and hindlimb manifestations of lordosis without evoking the usual immobility of the forelimbs, head and vibrissae. In animals with lumbar transections, the rostral, but not caudal, motoric components of lordosis could still be elicited by thoracic stimuli. Lateral column transection did not consistently prevent complete, sustained lordosis responses, but the response posture was abnormal. These results show the integrity of the hamster's dorsal columns to be essential for elicitation of complete lordosis responses and suggest that the caudal and rostral motor components differ significantly in the nature of their control by spinal and supraspinal levels of the central nervous system.
D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D006224:Cricetinae; D005260:Female; D008647:Mesocricetus; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology