Potential contributions of efferents from medial prefrontal cortex to neural activation following sexual behavior in the male rat
Potential contributions of efferents from medial prefrontal cortex to neural activation following sexual behavior in the male rat
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DOI：
10.1016/j.neuroscience.2005.11.013
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发表时间：
2006-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Coolen, LM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Balfour, ME;Brown, JL;Coolen, LM
边缘系统在性动机和性奖赏的调节中起着重要的作用。这个系统的核心是一个相互连接的中皮层边缘回路，包括腹侧被盖区、中脑核和内侧前额叶皮层。以前，我们的实验室表明，性行为会导致雄性大鼠腹侧被盖区的神经激活。本研究的主要目的是确定腹侧被盖区神经元的传入输入，可能有助于它们在性行为过程中的激活。因此，将顺行示踪剂生物素化葡聚糖胺注射到大鼠内侧前额叶皮质的亚区中，已知该亚区投射到腹侧被盖区。将生物素化葡聚糖胺标记的轴突的可视化与性别诱导的Fos表达的免疫染色相结合。定量分析表明，大多数的性激活腹侧被盖区神经元接受假定的接触，从inforimbic和prelimbic，但不是前扣带，内侧前额叶皮质的subreglons。因此，来自边缘下区和边缘前区的输入在解剖学上是性行为过程中输入的主要来源。这项研究的第二个目标是确定内侧前额叶皮层是否投射到其他对性行为和性动机很重要的大脑区域中的性激活神经元。边缘下区和边缘前区向丘脑底核、视前内侧区、终纹床核主核、杏仁基底外侧核和丘脑小细胞束旁核发出投射。因此，内侧前额叶皮层的边缘下和边缘前亚区也可能通过腹侧被盖区以外的大脑区域影响性行为和动机。(c)2005由Elsevier Ltd代表IBRO出版。
The limbic system plays an important role in the regulation of sexual motivation and reward. At the core of this system is an interconnected mesocorticolimbic circuit, comprised of the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex. Previously, our laboratory showed that sexual behavior causes neural activation in the ventral tegmental area of male rats. The main goal of this study is to identify afferent inputs to ventral tegmental area neurons that may contribute to their activation during sexual behavior. Hence, the anterograde tracer biotinylated dextran amine was injected into subregions of the rat medial prefrontal cortex, which is known to project to the ventral tegmental area. Visualization of biotinylated dextran amine-labeled axons was combined with immunostaining for sex-induced Fos expression. Quantitative analysis showed that the majority of sex-activated ventral tegmental area neurons receive putative contacts from the infralimbic and prelimbic-but not the anterior cingulate-subreglons of the medial prefrontal cortex. Thus, inputs from infralimbic area and prelimbic are in an anatomical position to provide a major source of input during sexual behavior. A second goal of this study was to determine if the medial prefrontal cortex projects to sex-activated neurons in other brain regions important for sexual behavior and motivation. Infralimbic area and prelimbic area sent projections to nucleus accumbens, medial preoptic area, principal nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, basolateral amygdala, and parvocellular subparafasicular thalamic nucleus. Thus, the infralimbic and prelimbic subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex may also influence sexual behavior and motivation via brain regions other than the ventral tegmental area. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IBRO.