title: Sex-induced fos in the medial preoptic area: projections to the midbrain.
abstract: Sexual activity results in cells displaying Fos-like Immunoreactivity (FLI) in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) of male rats. This study combined retrograde tracing techniques with FLI to determine if MPOA cells displaying sex-induced FLI project to known efferent sites of the MPOA. FluoroGold was injected into the dorsal central gray, lateral central gray, ventral tegmental area, medial central tegmental field, or lateral central tegmental field of male rats that later engaged in sexual activity. Examination of FLI and FluoroGold in the MPOA revealed that the lateral region of the MPOA projected to the lateral central gray and contained smaller projections to the other regions. These findings suggest that the lateral MPOA contains secondary sex-relevant projections to the midbrain.
authors.affiliation: Wheaton College, Psychology Department, 501 East College Avenue, Wheaton, IL 60187, USA.
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Struthers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010487:Periaqueductal Gray / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D011301:Preoptic Area / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013266:Stilbamidines; D013681:Tegmentum Mesencephali / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C049774:2-hydroxy-4,4'-diamidinostilbene, methanesulfonate salt; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D013266:Stilbamidines