Sex difference in the neurotensin-immunoreactive cell populations of the preoptic area in quail (Coturnix japonica).

The distribution of neurotensin-immunoreactive cells and fibers was analyzed by immunocytochemistry in the forebrain of male and female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) by using an antibody directed against the C-terminal part of the molecule. Immunoreactive perikarya were located almost exclusively in the medial preoptic area with small populations also being present in the nucleus paraventricularis and in the tuberal region. Immunoreactive fibers were observed not only throughout the preoptic area-hypothalamus, but also in the septal region, nucleus intercollicularis, substantia grisea centralis and the classical catecholaminergic areas of the mesencephalon, such as the area ventralis of Tsai and the nucleus tegmenti pedunculo-pontinus, pars compacta. The preoptic neurotensin-immunoreactive cells were exclusively located within the boundaries of the sexually dimorphic medial preoptic nucleus. They were significantly more numerous in females than in males. In females, the number of neurotensin cells varied during the ovulatory cycle: fewer cells were observed in birds that were about to lay an egg (they had a calcified egg in the oviduct) than in those that had already laid or were not going to lay on that day. These data indicate major variations in the expression of neurotensin in response to neurochemical or neuroendocrine changes associated with ovulation.