MPOA and BNST lesions in male Syrian hamsters: Differential effects on copulatory and chemoinvestigatory behaviors

Abstract

Electrolytic lesions were made in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) to evaluate their participation in the neural regulation of copulatory and chemoinvestigatory behaviors in male hamsters. Damage to either the MPOA or the BNST caused severe deficits in copulatory performance in a subset of the animals in each group. In the MPOA group all males displaying severe deficits had lesions which included a small central region of the caudal MPOA. In the BNST group, animals with severe copulatory deficits all had large lesions which covered most of both the medial and lateral parts of the nucleus. In contrast, MPOA and BNST lesions differentially affected chemoinvestigatory behaviors. MPOA lesions did not affect any of the males' anogenital investigation rates or attraction to female odors, even though some of these hamsters had stopped mating completely. Males with BNST lesions, on the other hand, all displayed significant reductions in their chemoinvestigatory responding even though the majority of them continued to mate normally. We suggest that the MPOA and BNST may in part regulate male sexual behavior by differentially responding to ‘attractant’ and ‘mounting’ substances within female hamster vaginal secretion.