Effects of intracranial implantation of dihydrotestosterone on sexual behavior in male Cnemidophorus inornatus, a direct sexual ancestor of a parthenogenetic lizard.

Dihydrotestosterone was implanted directly into the brain of castrated male Cnemidophorus inornatus, a direct sexual ancestor of the parthenogenetic species C. uniparens. Only implants located in the anterior hypothalamus--preoptic area (AH-POA) induced male-typical sexual behavior. Implants in other brain regions, including the ventromedial hypothalamus, failed to elicit courtship or copulatory behavior. Radioimmunoassay revealed no significant difference in the concentrations of circulating androgens between the responding and nonresponding animals. Previous data from this laboratory demonstrated that the AH-POA controls male-like pseudosexual behavior in C. uniparens. The current results support the hypotheses that (i) the AH-POA is the major area of hormone action in the brain controlling male-typical sexual behavior in C. inornatus as in other vertebrates and (ii) the neural circuits controlling male-typical behavior have been conserved in the evolution of the parthenogen C. uniparens.