@entity842 (NO)-containing neurons have been localized in various parts of the central nervous system including the @entity2339 . NO plays an important role in the regulation of reproductive activities including @entity146 and pituitary hormone secretion. To test the hypothesis that NO-containing neurons in specific brain areas may respond to the stimulus of mating and participate in integrating the tactile information in the @entity2339 , this study used @entity5019 as a marker of neuronal activity. Proestrous @entity35 receiving intromissions (mated group) from males or mounts-without-intromission (mounted group) were sacrificed along with @entity35 taken directly from their home cage (control group) 90 min after the beginning of mating or mounting. NOergic neurons were labeled by histochemical reaction for @entity1110 diaphorase ( @entity1110 -d). The presence of activated NO-producing (double-stained @entity1110 -d/ @entity5019 ) neurons was quantitatively assessed in several brain areas before and after mating. The results showed that mating-with-intromissions induced a significant increase in the percentage of @entity1110 -d/ @entity5019 colabeled neurons in the medial preoptic area (mPOA) and the magnocellular component of the paraventricular nucleus (PVNm) compared to mounts-without-intromission or control treatment. Both mating and mounting induced @entity5019 expression in @entity1110 -d-positive cells in the @entity2339 (VMN). In contrast, the expression of @entity5019 in the @entity1110 -d-positive neurons in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) and the parvocellular portion of the paraventricular nucleus (PVNp) was not influenced by either mating or mounting although abundant NO-containing neurons were found in the two brain areas. The second experiment of the study examined whether NOergic neurons in these brain areas are influenced directly by @entity172 by determining the number of @entity1110 -d-positive neurons that contained the @entity172 receptor alpha ( @entity7605 ), the classical ER. Double labeled @entity1110 -d/ @entity7605 neurons were observed in several brain areas including the mPOA and VMN while few, if any, @entity1110 -d-positive neurons in the SON, PVNm or PVNp contained @entity7605 . The results suggest that the activated NOergic neurons in these brain areas may be involved in processing and integrating the mating stimulus. Further investigation is required to determine the physiological role of the mating-activated NOergic activity in specific mating-induced changes in reproductive neuroendocrinology.

Mating-activated XXXX -producing neurons in specific brain regions in the female @entity35 .

@entity172 :: ('MESH:D004967', 'Chemical') :: ['estrogen'] @entity146 :: ('MESH:D001523', 'Disease') :: ['sexual behavior'] @entity7605 :: ('24890(Tax:10116)', 'Gene') :: ['ERalpha'] @entity5019 :: ('314322(Tax:10116)', 'Gene') :: ['Fos'] @entity1110 :: ('MESH:D009249', 'Chemical') :: ['nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate', 'NADPH'] @entity2339 :: ('MESH:D007029', 'Disease') :: ['ventromedial nucleus of hypothalamus', 'hypothalamus'] @entity842 :: ('MESH:D009569', 'Chemical') :: ['Nitric oxide'] @entity35 :: ('10116', 'Species') :: ['rats']
@entity842 :: (MESH:D009569,Chemical) :: ['nitric oxide']
