Failure To Demonstrate a Role of Midbrain-Hypothalamic Afferents in Reproductive Processes

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Abstract
Midbrain involvement in the control of gonadotropin secretion was studied in adult male and female rats by stimulation and lesion techniques. Vaginal cycling continued after bilateral coagulation of the mamillary peduncle and the ventral tegmental and adjacent mesencephalic areas. Ovarian, adrenal, thyroid and total body weights, and endocrine and reproductive system histology were unchanged. Similar lesions in males did not affect testicular, seminal vesicle, prostate and adrenal weight or histology. Lesions placed prior to the “criticalperiod” on the day of proestrus did not prevent the succeeding ovulation. Electrical stimulation in pentobarbital-blocked rats resulted in ovulation when the electrodes were in the median eminence region but not in the mamillary peduncle or neighboring midbrain regions. Normal gonadotropin regulation in male and female rats does not appear to be dependent on the mamillary peduncle or other ventral midbrain-hypothalamic afferents. (Endocrinology80: 365, 1967)

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