Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Horm Behav. 2023 Aug;154:105407. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105407. Epub 2023 Jul 29.
Steroid-sensitive vasopressin (AVP) neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and medial amygdala (MeA) have been implicated in the control of social behavior, but the connectional architecture of these cells is not well understood. Here we used a modified rabies virus (RV) approach to identify cells that provide monosynaptic input to BNST and MeA AVP cells, and an adeno-associated viral (AAV) anterograde tracer strategy to map the outputs of these cells. Although the location of in- and outputs of these cells generally overlap, we observed several sex differences with differences in density of outputs typically favoring males, but the direction of sex differences in inputs vary based on their location. Moreover, the AVP cells located in both the BNST and MeA are in direct contact with each other suggesting that AVP cells in these two regions act in a coordinated manner, and possibly differently by sex. This study represents the first comprehensive mapping of the sexually dimorphic and steroid-sensitive AVP neurons in the mouse brain.
终纹床核（BNST）和杏仁内侧核（MeA）中的类固醇敏感的加压素（AVP）神经元在控制社会行为方面起着重要作用，但这些细胞的连接结构尚不清楚。在这里，我们使用改良的狂犬病毒（RV）方法来鉴定向 BNST 和 MeA AVP 细胞提供单突触输入的细胞，并使用腺相关病毒（AAV）顺行示踪剂策略来绘制这些细胞的输出。尽管这些细胞的输入和输出的位置通常重叠，但我们观察到了几个性别差异，通常是输出的密度有利于雄性，但输入的性别差异的方向则取决于它们的位置。此外，位于 BNST 和 MeA 中的 AVP 细胞彼此直接接触，这表明这两个区域的 AVP 细胞以协调的方式起作用，并且可能因性别而异。这项研究代表了首次对小鼠大脑中性别二态性和类固醇敏感性 AVP 神经元进行全面映射。
