School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
Physiol Behav. 2020 Mar 1;215:112787. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112787. Epub 2019 Dec 19.
Phytoestrogens are plant-derived compounds that can modulate estrogen activity in the brain and periphery. Laboratory rodent diets are typically high in soy-based phytoestrogens and therefore may influence neurophysiological and behavioural measures that are sensitive to estrogen signaling. Here we assessed such measures in rats (males and females) fed Australian made diets that varied in their soy levels. We found that a low-soy diet promoted greater weight, and lower levels of plasma estradiol, particularly in male rats. It also produced sex-specific effects on estrogen receptor gene expression in the brain, increasing ESR2 expression in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex in female rats, and decreasing dopamine D1 receptor gene expression in the striatum of both male and female rats. We also found a dietary effect on short-term place recognition memory, but this was independent of soy levels in the diet. These results demonstrate that the choice of rodent laboratory diet can influence physiology, neurobiology and behavior, particularly on measures related to estrogen signaling.
植物雌激素是一类植物源性化合物，能够调节大脑和外周组织中的雌激素活性。实验室啮齿动物的饮食通常富含基于大豆的植物雌激素，因此可能会影响对雌激素信号敏感的神经生理和行为测量。在这里，我们评估了喂食澳大利亚制造的不同大豆含量饮食的大鼠（雄性和雌性）的这些测量值。我们发现，低大豆饮食促进了更大的体重增加和更低水平的血浆雌二醇，特别是在雄性大鼠中。它还对大脑中的雌激素受体基因表达产生了性别特异性影响，增加了雌性大鼠海马体和前额叶皮层中 ESR2 的表达，降低了雄性和雌性大鼠纹状体中多巴胺 D1 受体基因的表达。我们还发现了饮食对短期位置识别记忆的影响，但这与饮食中的大豆含量无关。这些结果表明，啮齿动物实验室饮食的选择会影响生理学、神经生物学和行为，特别是与雌激素信号相关的测量值。
