Importance of the medial amygdala in rat penile erection evoked by remote stimuli from estrous females

Effects of medial amygdala lesions (MAL) were examined on rat penile erection in three different experimental situations. Only sexually vigorous males, as identified by preoperative mating tests, were used. Bilateral radiofrequency lesions were confined to the posterior medial amygdala, with little systematic damage to anterior medial amygdala or to adjacent structures. Lesion electrodes were withdrawn without current application in sham-operated animals (SHAM). After recovery for brain surgery, males were tested for (1) noncontact erection (NCE) that occurs when males were placed in proximity to inaccessible estrous females, (2) reflexive erection evoked in supine males by retraction of the penile sheath, and (3) copulatory behaviour with receptive females. In the NCE test, none of the MAL males showed penile erection during the 20 min observation, whereas 70% of the SHAM males showed it (P < 0.001). In contrast, no erectile dysfunction in the MAL males was detected in the other two tests. MAL males displayed more penile-body erections (flips) than SHAM males in the reflexive-erection test (P < 0.05). In the copulation test, most of the MAL males achieved intromission, but their intromission ratio, a partial measure of erectile function, was marginally lower than that of SHAM males (P = 0.051). MAL males had longer intervals between intromissions (P < 0.001); as a result, none of them ejaculated during the 20 min period that followed the first intromission. The results suggest that the posterior medial amygdala plays an essential role in the regulation of NCE, and it may also contribute to the regulation of erection in other contexts. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.