Sexual behavior hamsters

Lehman M.N. and Winans S.S. (1982). Vomeronasal and olfactory pathways to the amygdala controlling male hamster sexual behavior — autoradiographic and behavioral analyses. Brain Res 240, 27-41. 

Kwan, M. and Johnston, R. E. (1980) The role of vaginal secretion in hamster sexual behavior males responses to normal and vaginectomized females and their odors. J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 94, 905-13. 

Takahashi, L. K. and Lisk, R. D. (1983) Organization and expression of agonistic and socio-sexual behavior in golden hamsters over the estrous cycle and after ovariectomy. Physiol. Behav. 31, 477-82. 

Wood, R. I. (1997) Thinking about networks in the control of male hamster sexual behavior. Horm. Behav. 32, 40-5. 

Powers, J.B. and Winans, S.S. (1975) Vomeronasal organ critical role in mediating sexual behavior of the male hamster. Science 187, 961-963. 

Meredith, M., Marques, D.M., O Connell, R.O. and Stem, F.L. (1980) Vomeronasal pump significance for male hamster sexual behavior. Science. 207, 1224-1226. 

In the golden hamster, the VNO is essential for certain reproductive behaviors, while the main olfactory system mediates responses that involve species recognition (Johnston, 1992 Table 5.2). As in mice, removal of the VNO impairs sexual behavior in male golden hamsters, but only if carried out before the animal had had sexual experience (Meredith, 1986). The same is true for ultrasonic vocalizations. 

Meisel RL, Joppa MA, Rowe RK (1996) Dopamine receptor antagonists attenuate conditioned place preference following sexual behavior in female Syrian hamsters. Eur J Pharmacol 309f 1) 21—24. 

Lehman, M. N., Winans, S. S., and Powers, J. B., 1980, Medial nucleus of the amygdala mediates chemosensory control of male hamster sexual behavior. Science 210 557-560. 

Sapolsky, R. M., and Eichenbaum, H., 1980, Thalamocortical mechanisms in odor-guided behavior. II. Effects of lesions of the mediodotsal thalamic nucleus and fiontal cortex on odor preferences and sexual behavior in the hamster. Brain Behav. Evol. 17 276-290. 

Johnston, R. E. 1986. Effects of female odors on the sexual behavior of male hamsters. Behav. Neur. 46, 168. 

Powers, J.B. Steel, E.A., Hutchinson, J.B., Hastings, M.H., Herbert, J. Walker, A.P. 1989. Photoperiodic influences on sexual behavior in male Syrian hamsters. J. Biol. Rhythms. 4, 61—78. 

In male golden hamster, injection of testosterone restored normal sexual behavior in castrated males, but had no effect on the bilaterally bulbectomized animal 416). In gerbils Meriones unguiculatus, olfactory bulb extirpation led to a reduction in territorial marking 312). 

Meredith M. (1986). Vomeronasal organ removal before sexual experience impairs male hamster mating behavior. Physiol Behav 36, 737-743. 

Pfeiffer C. and Johnston R.E. (1994). Hormonal and behavioral responses of male hamsters to females and female odors roles of olfaction, the vomeronasal system, and sexual experience. Physiol Behav 55, 129-138. 

Our laboratory has begun to determine if this phenomenon of experience-dependent attraction to male volatile cues also occurs in female Syrian hamsters, as experiential effects on odor preference may vary according to species. Syrian hamsters provide an ideal model species for studying sexual preference as these behaviors are almost exclusively mediated by chemosensory cues (Johnston 1983). Furthermore, both males and females display robust preferences for opposite-sex volatile odors that are independent of adult sexual experience (Landauer, Banks and Carter 1977 Petrulis and Johnston 1999), suggesting that early olfactory experience may play a critical role in the development of these behaviors. 

Taken together, this body of work demonstrates that adult behavioral responses to social odors are shaped by early olfactory experience. Indeed, heterospecific or artificial odor cues associated with the rearing environment acquire attractive properties that can last into adulthood in many rodent species. Furthermore, early experience with opposite-sex odors appears to be critical for the normal development of appropriate behavioral responses to sexual odors in mice and hamsters. Importantly, the behavioral plasticity observed using these different experimental approaches may all be mediated by a classical conditioning model of olfactory learning. The experience-dependent development of odor preference in rodents therefore provides a powerful model for understanding how the olfactory system recognizes and learns the salience of social odors, a function that is critical for the appropriate expression of reproductive behavior. 

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