Effects of brain testosterone implants on appetitive and consummatory components of male sexual behavior in Japanese quail

Abstract

Aromatization of testosterone (T) into an estrogen is necessary for the activation of consummatory and appetitive sexual behavior in male Japanese quail. T action within the medial preoptic nucleus (POM) is necessary and sufficient to activate consummatory behavior, and some evidence suggests that POM might be involved in the control of appetitive behavior, but other brain regions, such as the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), an area that contains a dense population of aromatase-immunoreactive neurons, are also likely to be involved. This study was performed to assess the effects of stereotaxic T implants targeting either the POM or the BST on the activation of both components of sexual behavior in castrated male quail. Appetitive sexual behavior was measured by an acquired social proximity response in which a male will approach a window providing visual access to a female after the window has been repeatedly paired with physical access to a female and the possibility to freely interact with her. Rhythmic cloacal sphincter movements that are produced by the male when given visual access to a female were used as another measure of appetitive sexual behavior that does not appear to depend on sexual learning. The experiments confirmed that copulation is necessary for males to develop the social proximity response that is used to measure the appetitive sexual behavior. T implants in the POM activated both components of sexual behavior, suggesting that these components cannot be completely dissociated. In contrast, T implants located within the BST did not affect either component, but because implants in the BST did not activate copulatory behavior, these results do not preclude a role for BST in the expression of a previously acquired appetitive sexual behavior.