Connections between the pontine central gray and the ventromedial hypothalamus are essential for lordosis in female rats

Abstract

Lesions and knife cuts were used to study central gray (CG) and ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) mediation of sexual receptivity in female rats. Lesions of the midbrain-pontine CG eliminated lordosis in female rats. Bilateral sagittal knife cuts that bracketed the rostral pontine CG also eliminated lordosis, and an experiment with the retrograde tracer Fluoro-Gold confirmed the effectiveness of these cuts in severing the lateral connections linking the VMH and the CG. Finally, females with a unilateral hypothalamic cut combined with a contralateral CG transection almost never showed lordosis. Each cut, at a different level for each side of the brain, transected axons linking the VMH and the CG. The demonstration that this combination eliminated lordosis provides new evidence that the lateral connections between the VMH and the CG are essential for the display of sexual receptivity in female rats.