INTRANEURONAL CONVERGENCE OF TACTILE AND HORMONAL STIMULI ASSOCIATED WITH FEMALE REPRODUCTION IN RATS

Stimulation of the vagina and cervix, by mating or manual probing, eli cits many behavioral and endocrine changes associated with female repr oduction in rats. We and others have identified neurons in the medial preoptic area, medial division of the bed nucleus of the stria termina lis, posterodorsal portion of the medial amygdala, ventromedial hypoth alamus, dorsomedial hypothalamus and midbrain central gray that increa se Fos expression in response to vaginal-cervical stimulation (VCS). I n the present study, we used a double-label immunofluorescent techniqu e to determine if any of these VCS-responsive neurons also contained e strogen receptor-immunoreactivity. We found that over 80% of the VCS-i nduced Fos-IR neurons in the medial division of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis also contained estrogen receptor-immunoreactivity. F urthermore, high percentages of VCS-responsive neurons in the medial p reoptic area, posterodorsal medial amygdala, ventromedial hypothalamus and midbrain central gray contained estrogen receptor-immunoreactivit y as well. These results suggest that sensory and hormonal information associated with female reproduction converge on Specific populations of neurons and may be integrated at the molecular level within these n eurons.