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Role of Gonadal Steroids in Determining Sexual Differences in Expression of Fos-Related Antigens in Tyrosine Hydroxylase-Immunoreactive Neurons in Subdivisions of the Hypothalamic Arcuate Nucleus¹

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1317

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Sun Cheung, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, B-440 Life Sciences Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1317. E-mail: cheungs{at}pilot.msu.edu

Dual immunohistochemistry was employed to examine the role of gonadal steroids in determining sexual differences in the expression of Fos and its related antigens (FRA) in tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic (TIDA) neurons located in the dorsomedial (DM-) and ventrolateral (VL-) subdivisions of the arcuate nucleus (ARC). In the DM-ARC, there was no sexual difference in the number of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunoreactive (-IR) perikarya, but the number of these containing FRA-IR was greater in females than in males in all but the most caudal region. In the VL-ARC, there were more TH-IR perikarya in males than in females, but there was no sexual difference in the numbers of those containing FRA-IR throughout the entire rostrocaudal extent of this nucleus. Ovariectomy decreased the number of TH-IR perikarya containing FRA-IR in the DM-ARC, but not in the VL-ARC, whereas orchidectomy increased the number of TH-IR perikayra containing FRA-IR in both the DM-ARC and VL-ARC. These gonadectomy-induced effects were reversed by estrogen and testosterone, respectively. These results reveal gonadal steroid-dependent sexual differences in the regulation of immediate early gene expression in anatomically discrete subpopulations of TIDA neurons. In females, estrogen stimulates FRA expression in TIDA neurons in the DM-ARC, whereas in males, testosterone inhibits FRA expression in TIDA neurons in both the DM-ARC and the VL-ARC.

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