Testosterone effects on neurotensin-immunoreactive cells in the quail preoptic area

In the quail preoptic area (POA), neurotensin-immunoreactive (NT-ir) cells are mostly located in the sexually dimorphic medial preoptic nucleus (POM). They are more numerous in females than in males and, in females, their number varies during the ovulatory cycle. This suggests a control by steroids of NT expression in the POA. This idea was tested by comparing the NT-ir populations in gonadectomized males and females treated or not with testosterone. No sex differences in the NT-ir cell number was present in gonadectomized birds. Testosterone treatment increased the number of immunoreactive perikarya. This effect was anatomically specific and the increase was observed in the area caudal to the anterior commissure but not in POM itself.