Chemical Senses, Vol 23, 257-267, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press
GD Fernandez-Fewell and M Meredith
Male hamsters are very dependent on chemosensory cues for normal mating
behavior. We have previously reported that central, vomeronasal pathways
are intensely and selectively activated during mating or pheromonal
stimulation. The contribution of main olfactory sensory input to the
patterns of c-fos activation was investigated in this study. Sexually
inexperienced male hamsters were either made anosmic by intranasal infusion
of zinc sulfate or remained intact. Fos protein immunoreactivity was
analyzed in main olfactory and vomeronasal pathways of the zinc
sulfate-treated, anosmic animals after mating with receptive females for 45
min, and compared with Fos patterns seen in intact mating animals, some of
which have been described in a previous publication. The zinc
sulfate-treated anosmic males described here all mated when given access to
receptive females. Whether mated or unstimulated, anosmic males had little
or no Fos expression in main olfactory pathways; significantly less even
than in unstimulated intact animals. Mating did not increase Fos expression
in main olfactory pathways of intact animals over that of unstimulated
intact controls. However, Fos expression in central vomeronasal pathways
was significantly higher in mating anosmic males, as in intact males,
compared with appropriate non-mating controls. Fos expression was
significantly different between intact and zinc sulfate-treated anosmic
mating males in only one area studied. The rostral anterior medial
amygdala, known to receive a small olfactory terminal field, had
significantly lower Fos expression in zinc sulfate-treated anosmic males
that mated when compared with intact-mating animals. Thus, functional main
olfactory input to the rostral vomeronasal amygdala can be demonstrated but
does not appear to be critical for mating behavior in previously
inexperienced male hamsters with intact vomeronasal organs. Other main
olfactory input appears to have a negligible contribution to Fos-patterns
in such animals.
ARTICLES
Olfactory contribution to Fos expression during mating in inexperienced male hamsters
Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306, USA.
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