EFFECT OF ESTRADIOL ON NACL-EVOKED OLFACTORY BULBAR POTENTIALS IN GOLDFISH - DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS

Evoked olfactory electrical responses in the olfactory bulbs of young adult goldfish were studied after administration of different dosages of estradiol. The magnitudes of the olfactory responses were augmented in estrogenized goldfish up to a dose of 8.0 μg of estradiol. Beyond this dose less augmentation occurred, and higher doses (32.0 μg, 64.0 μg) of estradiol actually inhibited the responses to values below the control. Olfactory responses in estrogenized goldfish after olfactory tract section (freeing the bulbs from centrifugal control) also were biphasic with respect to dose, but mirror image to the dose-response relation in intact goldfish. These data are interpreted to mean that estrogens influence olfactory-evoked nervous responses in the bulb and elsewhere in the nervous system in a complex manner related to dose. Different parts of the central nervous system, at particular doses of estradiol, may respond simultaneously quite differently in terms of inhibition or facilitation. © 1969.