PowerPoint Presentation - Atrazine and the Sexual Differentiation of the Brain of Two Anuran Amphibians, Bufo quercicus and Bufo marinus

AVT

•Reproductive behaviors

•AVT-sensitive areas of brain

•Orientation to breeding site

•Calling

•Call phonotaxis


	The neuropeptide, arginine vasotocin, or AVT is known to stimulate mating behaviors in many vertebrates. Its homolog arginine vasopressin (AVP) governs courtship behaviors in mammals.
	Dr. Sunny Boyd at the University of Notre Dame was able to determine sexually dimorphic brain structures in bullfrogs by immunocytochemically staining sections of frog brain with antibody to AVT. Areas of the brain that are stimulated by AVT were highlighted by a staining reaction that occurred when … Sexually dimorphic areas of the brain included the amygdala pars lateralis and the habenula.