DIFFERENTIAL LOCALIZATION OF A MALE AND A FEMALE HYPOTHALAMIC MATING CENTRE

Abstract

Implantation of testosterone propionate (tp) in the pre-optic-anterior hypothalamic region produced predominantly male, i.e. homosexual behaviour in female spayed rats. On the other hand, tp implants in the central hypothalamus induced mainly female behaviour, as did subcutaneous tp injections in these animals (Dörner, Döcke & Moustafa, 1968). Therefore, it was assumed that two different hypothalamic mating centres are responsible for the male and female mating activity. In the following study this hypothesis was re-investigated by means of intra-hypothalamic implantations of oestradiol benzoate (ob) in rats. Precise quantities of crystalline ob were implanted stereotaxically into the anterior or central hypothalamus of post-puberally spayed female rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain. The stereotaxic implantations were performed according to a method described recently (Döcke, Dörner & Voigt, 1968). ob was dissolved in alcohol, the solution was aspirated