Sensory modulation of the medial preoptic area neuronal activity by dorsal penile nerve stimulation in rats.

The study was aimed at finding out the influence exerted by the genital afferents on the medial preoptic area (mPOA), which plays a pivotal role in the regulation of male sex behavior. To fulfil this objective, the effects of stimulation of the dorsal penile nerve (DPN) on the activity of 82 mPOA neurons were studied. The base line firing rates of the mPOA neurons, studied by extracellular recording, ranged between 0.5 and 38.5 Hz (mean 7.18 +/- 7.91). The stimulation of the DPN (20 Hz, 0.4 msec. 70 microA) influenced 79.69% of the neurons studied. Though increased firing was the predominant influence produced (50%), decreased firing was also seen in a few (29.69%). The excited and inhibited neurons were randomly distributed within the mPOA. Neurons located in the lateral and posterior hypothalamus were not affected by the DPN stimulation. The stimulation parameters used in this study did not produce any change in the systemic arterial pressure and heart rate. The results provide electrophysiological evidence of afferent inputs from the male sex organ to the mPOA, which is an important area controlling male sex behavior.