Publication Date:
1990-11-02
Description:
The ventromedial nuclei of the hypothalamus (VMN) are important for the control of feminine mating behavior, and hormone action within these nuclei has been causally related to behavior. Estradiol induces receptors for oxytocin in the VMN and in the area lateral to these nuclei over the course of 1 to 2 days, and progesterone causes, within 30 minutes of its application, a further increase in receptor binding and an expansion of the area covered by these receptors lateral to the VMN. The rapid progesterone effect appears to be a direct and specific effect of this steroid on the receptor or membrane, because it was produced in vitro as well as in vivo and was not mimicked by a variety of other steroids. The effect of progesterone occurred in the posterior part of the VMN, where oxytocin infusion facilitated feminine mating behavior; it did not take place in the anterior part of the VMN, where oxytocin infusion had no effect on mating behavior.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Schumacher, M -- Coirini, H -- Pfaff, D W -- McEwen, B S -- HD-05751/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ -- NS-07080/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- TWO4103/TW/FIC NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1990 Nov 2;250(4981):691-4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2173139" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Estradiol/pharmacology
;
Female
;
Oxytocin/pharmacology
;
Progesterone/*pharmacology
;
Rats
;
Receptors, Angiotensin/*drug effects/metabolism
;
Receptors, Oxytocin
;
Sexual Behavior, Animal/*drug effects
;
Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus/*drug effects
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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