Mating-induced c-fos expression patterns complement and supplement observations after lesions in the male Syrian hamster brain.

Experimental efforts to define the functional neuroanatomical circuitry underlying male sexual behavior in rodents have relied in the past on the observation of behavioral deficits in males with selectively placed brain lesions. More recently, experiments in our laboratory and several other laboratories have attempted to selectively stimulate or eliminate Fos protein production associated with mating by controlling either the past sexual experience of the animal or the stimuli and behavioral events immediately preceding perfusion-fixation of the brain,'-s by altering the hormonal status of the behaving animal,h or by observing Fos-ir patterns ipsilateral to unilateral lesions in key nuclei of the mating behavior p a t h ~ a y . ~ In this chapter we summarize the results of several studies in the male Syrian hamster in light of previously reported behavioral effects of lesions in the same areas.