Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INSERM, Neuroscience Paris Seine - Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, 75005, Paris, France.
Sci Rep. 2020 Apr 10;10(1):6242. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-63427-4.
Estradiol derived from neural aromatization of testosterone plays a key role in the organization and activation of neural structures underlying male behaviors. This study evaluated the contribution of the estrogen receptor (ER) β in estradiol-induced modulation of social and mood-related behaviors by using mice lacking the ERβ gene in the nervous system. Mutant males exhibited reduced social interaction with same-sex congeners and impaired aggressive behavior. They also displayed increased locomotor activity, and reduced or unaffected anxiety-state level in three paradigms. However, when mice were exposed to unescapable stress in the forced swim and tail suspension tests, they spent more time immobile and a reduced time in swimming and climbing. These behavioral alterations were associated with unaffected circadian and restraint stress-induced corticosterone levels, and unchanged number of tryptophan hydroxylase 2-immunoreactive neurons in the dorsal raphe. By contrast, reduced mRNA levels of oxytocin and arginine-vasopressin were observed in the bed nucleus of stria terminalis, whereas no changes were detected in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus. The neural ERβ is thus involved to different extent levels in social and mood-related behaviors, with a particular action on oxytocin and arginine-vasopressin signaling pathways of the bed nucleus of stria terminalis, yet the involvement of other brain areas cannot be excluded.
来自睾酮的神经芳香化作用产生的雌二醇在雄性行为的神经结构的组织和激活中起关键作用。本研究通过使用缺乏神经系统中雌激素受体 (ER)β 的小鼠来评估 ERβ 在雌二醇诱导的社交和情绪相关行为调节中的作用。突变雄性与同性同窝动物的社交互动减少，攻击行为受损。它们还表现出增加的运动活性，以及在三种范式中减少或不受影响的焦虑状态水平。然而，当小鼠在强迫游泳和悬尾测试中暴露于无法逃避的应激时，它们的不动时间增加，游泳和攀爬时间减少。这些行为改变与不受影响的昼夜节律和束缚应激诱导的皮质酮水平以及中缝背核中色氨酸羟化酶 2 免疫反应性神经元数量不变相关。相比之下，在终纹床核中观察到催产素和精氨酸加压素的 mRNA 水平降低，而在下丘脑室旁核中未检测到变化。因此，神经 ERβ 不同程度地参与社交和情绪相关行为，对终纹床核的催产素和精氨酸加压素信号通路有特殊作用，但不能排除其他脑区的参与。
