The development of female sexual behavior requires prepubertal estradiol - PubMed (original) (raw)

The development of female sexual behavior requires prepubertal estradiol

Olivier Brock et al. J Neurosci. 2011.

Abstract

The classic view of brain and behavioral sexual differentiation holds that the neural mechanisms controlling sexual behavior in female rodents develop in the absence of ovarian sex hormone actions. However, in a previous study, female aromatase knock-out (ArKO) mice, which cannot convert testosterone to estradiol, showed deficient male-oriented partner preference and lordosis behaviors in response to adult ovarian hormones, raising the possibility that estradiol may contribute to the development of these female sexual behaviors. In the present experiments, administering estradiol prepubertally [between postnatal day 15 (P15) and P25] significantly enhanced the ability of ArKO female mice to display lordosis behavior in response to ovarian hormones administered later in adulthood, whereas treatment with estradiol over an earlier postnatal period (P5-P15) had no such effect. Treatment of ArKO females with estradiol between P15 and P25 also rescued their later preference to approach distal cues from an intact male over an estrous female. ArKO females also displayed significantly less female-directed (male-typical) mounting behavior than wild-type control females when treated with testosterone in adulthood. Prepubertal estradiol treatment failed to reverse this deficit in ArKO females, whereas earlier postnatal estradiol augmented later mounting in both genotypes. Our results provide new evidence for an organizing role of prepubertal estradiol in the development of neural mechanisms that control female-typical sexual behavior.

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Figures

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Effect of early postnatal (A; P5–P15) or prepubertal (B; P15–P25) EB treatment of WT and ArKO female mice on the expression of lordosis behavior in adulthood following ovariectomy and treatment with ovarian hormones. Mean ± SEM lordosis quotients over consecutive tests in WT control females, WT females treated with EB, ArKO control females, and ArKO females treated with EB are shown. A, Values for WT control females on test 3 were significantly higher than values for the other 3 groups of female mice (*p < 0.05) by post hoc tests. B, Values for the ArKO control females on tests 5 and 6 were significantly lower than values for the other 3 groups of female mice (*p < 0.05) by post hoc tests. The number of female mice in each group is given in parentheses.

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Effect of early postnatal (A; P5–P15) or prepubertal (B; P15–P25) EB treatment of WT and ArKO female mice on the later display of female-directed mounting behavior in adulthood following ovariectomy and treatment with testosterone. Mean ± SEM numbers of mounts displayed by WT control females, WT females treated with EB, ArKO control females, and ArKO females treated with EB are shown. Means with different superscript letters are significantly different from each other by post hoc comparisons (p < 0.05). The number of female mice in each group is given in parentheses.

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

Effect of prepubertal (P15–P25) EB treatment of WT and ArKO females on mate preference in adulthood following ovariectomy and treatment with ovarian hormones. Shown are mean ± SEM times spent by WT control females, WT females treated prepubertally with EB, ArKO control females, and ArKO females treated prepubertally with EB investigating the compartment containing an intact male versus an estrous female. *p < 0.05, post hoc comparisons of time spent investigating the two types of stimulus animals. The number of female mice in each group is given in parentheses.

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