This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 147/1/415    most recent Author Manuscript (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bodo, C. Articles by Rissman, E. F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bodo, C. Articles by Rissman, E. F.

Both Estrogen Receptor- and -ß Are Required for Sexual Differentiation of the Anteroventral Periventricular Area in Mice

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics (E.F.R.) and Program in Neuroscience (C.B., A.E.K., E.F.R.), University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Emilie Rissman, P.O. Box 800733, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908. E-mail: rissman{at}virginia.edu.

Sexual dimorphisms in the hypothalamus are mediated in several cases by local aromatization of androgens to estrogens during the perinatal period. In this series of experiments, the contributions of the two estrogen receptors (ERs), ER and ERß, to the differentiation of the sexually dimorphic subpopulation of dopaminergic neurons in the anteroventral periventricular area (AVPV) was examined. In the first experiment, numbers of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactive (-ir) AVPV neurons in ERß knockout and wild-type (WT) mice of both sexes were measured. In the second experiment, the average number of TH-ir neurons in the medial portion of the AVPV in ER knockout, ERß knockout, double-ER knockout, and WT mice of both sexes was calculated. In both experiments TH-ir cell numbers were sexually dimorphic as expected, with female individuals of all genotypes exhibiting more TH-ir neurons than WT males. Interestingly the average number of TH-ir neurons in all knockout males was significantly higher than in WT male littermates. In fact, TH-ir cell numbers in all knockout males were equivalent to females. In a final experiment, C57BL/6J female mice were treated during the first 3 postnatal days with either estradiol, or a specific agonist for one of the two ERs. Additional male and female pups received vehicle injections. Treatments with estradiol or either ER-specific agonist significantly reduced the number of TH-ir AVPV neurons in female brains. Our data demonstrate that both ER and ERß are involved in the sexual differentiation of the AVPV in mice.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. L. Gonzales, M. J. Tetel, and C. K. Wagner Estrogen Receptor (ER) {beta} Modulates ER{alpha} Responses to Estrogens in the Developing Rat Ventromedial Nucleus of the Hypothalamus Endocrinology, September 1, 2008; 149(9): 4615 - 4621. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. M. McCARTHY Estradiol and the Developing Brain Physiol Rev, January 1, 2008; 88(1): 91 - 134. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. E. Roselli, H. Stadelman, R. Reeve, C. V. Bishop, and F. Stormshak The Ovine Sexually Dimorphic Nucleus of the Medial Preoptic Area Is Organized Prenatally by Testosterone Endocrinology, September 1, 2007; 148(9): 4450 - 4457. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]