Interruption of pseudopregnancy by rostral periventricular preoptic lesions in the female rat

Lesions made in the rostral periventricular region of the basal preoptic area (POA) effectively interrupted pseudopregnancy in female rats. However, lesions in the dorsal POA, lateral POA, nucleus and diagonal band of Broca or nucleus accumbens failed to interrupt pseudopregnancy. This suggests that the rostral periventricular POA may play a stimulatory role in regulating prolactin release during pseudopregnancy.