Olesen Kristin M, Auger Anthony P
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2008 May 14;3(5):e2177. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002177.
Steroid receptor activation in the developing brain influences a variety of cellular processes that endure into adulthood, altering both behavior and physiology. Recent data suggests that dopamine can regulate expression of progestin receptors within restricted regions of the developing rat brain by activating estrogen receptors in a ligand-independent manner. It is unclear whether changes in neuronal activity induced by dopaminergic activation of estrogen receptors are also region specific. To investigate this question, we examined where the dopamine D1-like receptor agonist, SKF 38393, altered Fos expression via estrogen receptor activation. We report that dopamine D1-like receptor agonist treatment increased Fos protein expression within many regions of the developing female rat brain. More importantly, prior treatment with an estrogen receptor antagonist partially reduced D1-like receptor agonist-induced Fos expression only within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the central amygdala. These data suggest that dopaminergic activation of estrogen receptors alters neuronal activity within restricted regions of the developing rat brain. This implies that ligand-independent activation of estrogen receptors by dopamine might organize a unique set of behaviors during brain development in contrast to the more wide spread ligand activation of estrogen receptors by estrogen.
发育中的大脑中类固醇受体的激活会影响多种持续到成年期的细胞过程，改变行为和生理机能。最近的数据表明，多巴胺可以通过以非配体依赖的方式激活雌激素受体，来调节发育中大鼠大脑特定区域内孕激素受体的表达。尚不清楚雌激素受体的多巴胺能激活所诱导的神经元活动变化是否也具有区域特异性。为了研究这个问题，我们检测了多巴胺D1样受体激动剂SKF 38393通过雌激素受体激活改变Fos表达的位置。我们报告称，多巴胺D1样受体激动剂处理增加了发育中雌性大鼠大脑许多区域内的Fos蛋白表达。更重要的是，预先用雌激素受体拮抗剂处理仅在终纹床核和中央杏仁核内部分降低了D1样受体激动剂诱导的Fos表达。这些数据表明，雌激素受体的多巴胺能激活改变了发育中大鼠大脑特定区域内的神经元活动。这意味着，与雌激素对雌激素受体更广泛的配体激活相比，多巴胺对雌激素受体的非配体依赖激活可能在大脑发育过程中组织了一套独特的行为。
