The medial preoptic nucleus receives vasotocinergic inputs in male quail: a tract-tracing and immunocytochemical study.

The sexually dimorphic testosterone-sensitive medial preoptic nucleus (POM) of quail can be identified by the presence of a dense network of vasotocinergic fibers. This innervation is sexually differentiated (present in males only) and testosterone sensitive. The origin of these fibers has never been formally identified although their steroid sensitivity suggests that they originate in parvocellular vasotocinergic neurons that are found in quail only in the medial part of the bed nucleus striae terminalis (BSTm) and in smaller numbers within the POM itself.