AP lesions block suppression of estrous behavior, but not estrous cyclicity, in food-deprived Syrian hamsters

Food deprivation inhibits ovulatory cycles and estrous behavior in Syrian hamsters. Lesions of the area postrema (AP) prevented the suppression of estrous behavior in food-deprived hamsters, but they did not prevent the suppression of estrous cyclicity or the increase in running-wheel activity caused by food deprivation. Food deprivation or treatment with pharmacological inhibitors of glycolysis and fatty acid oxidation decreased estrogen-receptor immunoreactivity (ERIR) in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH), increased ERIR in the arcuate nucleus (Arc) and the posterior parvicellular paraventricular nucleus (PaPo), but had no effect on ERIR in the posterodorsal medial amygdala or the anterior parvicellular paraventricular nucleus. Lesions of the AP prevented the food deprivation-induced decrease in VMH ERIR and the increase in Arc ERIR, but they did not prevent the increase in ERIR in the PaPo. Thus, whatever physiological cues are produced by food deprivation, an intact AP is required for their transmission to the neural circuits controlling estrous behavior, VMH ERIR, and Arc ERIR. The AP is not essential for transmission of this information to the neural circuits controlling estrous cyclicity, running-wheel activity, or PaPo ERIR.