Neural Pathways Involved in the Photoperiodic Control of Reproductive Physiology and Behavior in Female Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus)

Abstract

Female hamsters received horizontal knife cuts to investigate the role of hypothalamic connections in the photoperiodic control of female reproductive functions. Knife cuts placed ventral to or through the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), but dorsal to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), prevented photoperiod-induced acyclicity and uterine regression in animals maintained under a nonstimulatory photoperiod for 10 weeks. The animals were then ovariectomized and tested for lordosis behavior following subcutaneous injections of ovarian hormones to investigate the photoperiodic modulation of female sexual behavior. Animals exposed to a nonstimulatory photoperiod were less behaviorally sensitive to treatment with estradiol benzoate (EB) alone, but did not differ from animals maintained under a stimulatory photoperiod when EB was combined with progesterone. The effect of photoperiod on behavioral sensitivity to hormone replacement was independent of the surgical condition. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that dorsal projections from the SCN to the PVN mediate gonadal responses to short photoperiods. They also indicate that photoperiod-induced changes in behavioral sensitivity to gonadal steroids may be mediated by neural pathways distinct from those that mediate the gonadal changes.