Yue S, Wadia V, Sekula N, Dickinson P S, Thompson R R
Neuroscience Program, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, USA.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2018 Jan;204(1):17-29. doi: 10.1007/s00359-017-1220-6. Epub 2017 Oct 28.
Elevations of sex steroids induced by social cues can rapidly modulate social behavior, but we know little about where they act within the nervous system to produce such effects. In male goldfish, testosterone (T) rapidly increases approach responses to the visual cues of females through its conversion to estradiol. Because aromatase is expressed in the retina, we tested if T can acutely influence retina responses to visual stimuli, and investigated the receptor mechanisms that may mediate such effects. Specifically, we measured FOS protein immunoreactivity to determine if T affects cellular responses to visual stimuli that include females, and used electrophysiology to investigate whether T can generally affect light sensitivity. We found that T acutely increased FOS responses to the simultaneous onset of light and the presence of female visual stimuli, both of which would normally be associated with early morning spawning, and increased electrophysiological responses to low intensity light pulses. Both effects were blocked by an estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) antagonist, indicating that T is likely being converted to estradiol (E2) and acting through an ERβ mediated mechanism to acutely modulate visual processing. Changes in sensory processing could subsequently influence approach behavior to increase reproductive success in competitive mating environments.
社会线索诱导的性类固醇水平升高可迅速调节社会行为，但我们对它们在神经系统中的作用部位以产生此类效应知之甚少。在雄性金鱼中，睾酮（T）通过转化为雌二醇迅速增加对雌性视觉线索的接近反应。由于芳香化酶在视网膜中表达，我们测试了T是否能急性影响视网膜对视觉刺激的反应，并研究了可能介导此类效应的受体机制。具体而言，我们测量了FOS蛋白免疫反应性，以确定T是否影响对包括雌性在内的视觉刺激的细胞反应，并使用电生理学来研究T是否能普遍影响光敏感性。我们发现，T急性增加了对光同时出现和雌性视觉刺激存在的FOS反应，这两者通常都与清晨产卵有关，并增加了对低强度光脉冲的电生理反应。这两种效应都被雌激素受体β（ERβ）拮抗剂阻断，表明T可能正在转化为雌二醇（E2），并通过ERβ介导的机制急性调节视觉处理。感觉处理的变化随后可能影响接近行为，以在竞争性交配环境中提高繁殖成功率。
