Effects of septal lesions on lordosis in female hamsters

The ovarian hormones, estradiol and progesterone, are believed to act at specific sites in the female brain to induce sexual receptivity. Septal lesions which have been comprehensively studied in the rat, were carried out on female hamsters. Lordosis behavior was quantified as an index of female sexual receptivity. Septal lesions were found to cause a significant increase in female sexual receptivity in hamsters primed with 3 or 9 micrograms estradiol benzoate (EB) and 200 micrograms progesterone (P), but low levels of lordosis were not enhanced in septal lesioned female hamsters primed with 1 microgram EB + 200 micrograms P. The facilitation of lordosis seen in septal lesioned hamsters is similar to that observed in female rats. However, our results do not confirm increases in sensitivity to estradiol in the hamster.