Projections of oestrogen-sensitive neurones from the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus of the female rat.

Stimulation of the mesencephalic central grey matter caused antidromic activation of 199 neurones in the hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus of forty-six urethane-anaesthetized female rats, of which twenty-two (ten ovariectomized and twelve ovariectomized and oestrogen treated) had the lateral projection of the nucleus disrupted by a small parasagittal knife-cut. The remaining twenty-four rats (ten ovariectomized and fourteen ovariectomized and oestrogen treated) had a cut in the frontal plane to interrupt caudal projection of the nucleus. In eight animals with the lateral knife-cut, eighteen cells were antidromically activated from the central grey matter as well as from the dorsal longitudinal fascicle. Collision between the potentials activated from these two sites revealed that seventeen of them descended to the central grey matter by way of the periventricular system, one cell having a bifurcated axon to these sites. Likewise, eleven cells in another group of eight animals with the posterior cut were found to project to the central grey matter via the perifornical region. Pre-treatment with oestrogen significantly lowered the activation thresholds and absolute refractory periods of neurones antidromically stimulated from the central grey in ovariectomized animals bearing posterior but not lateral knife-cuts. These results suggest that the ventromedial hypothalamic neurones responsible for oestrogen-dependent autonomic and behavioural functions project to the central grey via a lateral rather than a posterior pathway.