Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas: Fisiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul/ICBS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Neurosci Lett. 2010 Jan 18;469(1):19-23. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2009.11.036. Epub 2009 Nov 18.
The volumes of the neuronal nucleus and the cell body in the left posterodorsal medial amygdala (MePD) of adult ovariectomized (OVX) female rats submitted to different hormonal therapies were studied here, aiming to reveal possible influence of substitutive sex steroids in these morphological parameters. One week following ovariectomy and at the end of treatments, brains were cut to semi-thin sections (1 microm) and stained with 1% toluidine blue for stereological estimations, carried out using the Cavalieri method and the technique of point counting. Both the volume of the neuronal nucleus and the soma showed a statistically significant difference when comparing the data among OVX females treated with vehicle (V), estradiol (EB) alone, EB plus progesterone (EB+P) or P alone [n=5 rats in each group; one-way ANOVA test, P<0.01 in both cases]. The Tukey test showed that OVX and EB+P treated females had higher mean neuronal nucleus and somatic volumes when compared to V (P<0.01) or EB alone (P<0.01). Also, OVX females treated with P alone showed larger mean neuronal nucleus and somatic volumes when compared to V (P<0.05). These results suggest that the neuronal nucleus and the somatic volumes can be modulated by substitutive ovarian hormones administered to OVX females, for which P can lead to higher results. These findings reveal additional epigenetic actions of the sex steroids in the MePD and new neuronal morphological features in adult female rats.
本文研究了接受不同激素治疗的成年去卵巢（OVX）雌性大鼠左后背内侧杏仁核（MePD）神经元核和细胞体的体积，旨在揭示替代性激素对这些形态参数的可能影响。去卵巢后 1 周和治疗结束时，将大脑切成半薄切片（1 微米），并用 1%甲苯胺蓝染色，进行立体学估计，使用 Cavalieri 方法和点计数技术进行。当比较用载体（V）、单独雌二醇（EB）、EB 加孕酮（EB+P）或 P 单独治疗的 OVX 雌性的核和体细胞体积数据时，这两个参数的体积均显示出统计学上的显著差异[每组 5 只大鼠；单因素方差分析，两种情况下均 P<0.01]。Tukey 检验显示，与 V（P<0.01）或单独 EB（P<0.01）相比，OVX 和 EB+P 治疗的雌性具有更高的核和体细胞平均体积。此外，与 V 相比，单独用 P 治疗的 OVX 雌性具有更大的核和体细胞平均体积（P<0.05）。这些结果表明，替代卵巢激素可以调节 OVX 雌性的神经元核和体细胞体积，其中 P 可以导致更高的结果。这些发现揭示了性类固醇在 MePD 中的额外表观遗传作用以及成年雌性大鼠中新的神经元形态特征。
