Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Biomedical Research Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Andrologia. 2021 Oct;53(9):e14153. doi: 10.1111/and.14153. Epub 2021 Jun 17.
Sex-specific differences in brain plasticity appear to be organised by testosterone, which is particularly important during the early stages of development. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the sex differences in mRNA and protein levels of selected cell-adhesion molecules and scaffolding proteins on postnatal days 5 (P5) and 9 (P9) in the rat hippocampus, as well as evaluate the effects of testosterone treatment (100 nM, 48 hr) on synaptic proteins in SH-SY5Y (neuron-like) and U-87MG (astrocyte-like) cells. The gene expression levels of Neuroligin 3 and 'SH3 and multiple ankyrin repeat domains protein' 1 and 3 (SHANK1 and SHANK3) were significantly lower in males compared to females at P5. At P9, a similar significant trend towards a decrease in mRNA expression and protein levels of SHANK3 was found in males. Testosterone treatment induced a significant decrease of Neuroligin 1-3 mRNA expression in both SH-SY5Y and U-87MG cells. SHANK1 and SHANK3 mRNA levels significantly decreased in U-87MG cells response to testosterone presence. The presented results demonstrate that the association of selected postsynaptic cell-adhesion molecules and scaffolding proteins is sex-related. Testosterone appears to be particularly involved in the developmental mechanisms related to neuroplasticity.
大脑可塑性的性别差异似乎是由睾酮组织的，睾酮在发育早期尤为重要。本研究的主要目的是在出生后第 5 天（P5）和第 9 天（P9）检查大鼠海马体中选定的细胞粘附分子和支架蛋白的 mRNA 和蛋白水平的性别差异，并评估睾酮处理（100 nM，48 小时）对 SH-SY5Y（神经元样）和 U-87MG（星形胶质细胞样）细胞中突触蛋白的影响。在 P5 时，雄性的神经连接蛋白 3 和“SH3 和多个锚蛋白重复域蛋白 1 和 3（SHANK1 和 SHANK3）的基因表达水平明显低于雌性。在 P9 时，雄性的 SHANK3 mRNA 表达和蛋白水平也存在类似的显著下降趋势。睾酮处理可诱导 SH-SY5Y 和 U-87MG 细胞中神经连接蛋白 1-3 的 mRNA 表达显著下降。U-87MG 细胞中 SHANK1 和 SHANK3 的 mRNA 水平在存在睾酮时显著下降。研究结果表明，特定的突触后细胞粘附分子和支架蛋白的关联具有性别相关性。睾酮似乎特别参与与神经可塑性相关的发育机制。
