Female sexual behavior, estrous cycle and gene expression in sexually dimorphic brain regions after pre- and postnatal exposure to endocrine active UV filters

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Faass ◽  
Margret Schlumpf ◽  
Sasha Reolon ◽  
Manuel Henseler ◽  
Kirsten Maerkel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Sexual Behavior ◽  
Estrous Cycle ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Uv Filters ◽  
Postnatal Exposure ◽  
Female Sexual Behavior

scholarly journals Gene expression correlates of social evolution in coral reef butterflyfishes

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1929) ◽  
pp. 20200239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica P. Nowicki ◽  
Morgan S. Pratchett ◽  
Stefan P. W. Walker ◽  
Darren J. Coker ◽  
Lauren A. O'Connell
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Ventral Telencephalon ◽  
Solitary Living ◽  
Social Variation ◽  
Evolution Of Sociality ◽  
Solitary Species

Animals display remarkable variation in social behaviour. However, outside of rodents, little is known about the neural mechanisms of social variation, and whether they are shared across species and sexes, limiting our understanding of how sociality evolves. Using coral reef butterflyfishes, we examined gene expression correlates of social variation (i.e. pair bonding versus solitary living) within and between species and sexes. In several brain regions, we quantified gene expression of receptors important for social variation in mammals: oxytocin ( OTR ), arginine vasopressin ( V1aR ), dopamine ( D1R, D2R ) and mu-opioid ( MOR ). We found that social variation across individuals of the oval butterflyfish, Chaetodon lunulatus, is linked to differences in OTR , V1aR, D1R, D2R and MOR gene expression within several forebrain regions in a sexually dimorphic manner. However, this contrasted with social variation among six species representing a single evolutionary transition from pair-bonded to solitary living. Here, OTR expression within the supracommissural part of the ventral telencephalon was higher in pair-bonded than solitary species, specifically in males. These results contribute to the emerging idea that nonapeptide, dopamine and opioid signalling is a central theme to the evolution of sociality across individuals, although the precise mechanism may be flexible across sexes and species.

scholarly journals A Sexually Dimorphic Area of the Dorsal Hypothalamus in Mice and Common Marmosets

Endocrinology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 157 (12) ◽  
pp. 4817-4828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yadanar Moe ◽  
Chaw Kyi-Tha-Thu ◽  
Tomoko Tanaka ◽  
Hiroto Ito ◽  
Satowa Yahashi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Behavior ◽  
Sexual Behaviors ◽  
Maternal Behavior ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Common Marmosets ◽  
Female Sexual Behavior ◽  
Bed Nucleus ◽  
Female Mice ◽  
Activity Marker

We found a novel sexually dimorphic area (SDA) in the dorsal hypothalamus (DH) of mice. The SDA-DH was sandwiched between 2 known male-biased sexually dimorphic nuclei, the principal nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the calbindin-sexually dimorphic nucleus, and exhibited a female-biased sex difference in neuronal cell density. The density of neurons in the SDA-DH was increased in male mice by orchidectomy on the day of birth and decreased in female mice by treatment with testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, or estradiol within 5 days after birth. These findings indicate that the SDA-DH is defeminized under the influence of testicular testosterone, which acts via both directly by binding to the androgen receptor, and indirectly by binding to the estrogen receptor after aromatization. We measured the activity of SDA-DH neurons with c-Fos, a neuronal activity marker, in female mice during maternal and sexual behaviors. The number of c-Fos-expressing neurons in the SDA-DH of female mice was negatively correlated with maternal behavior performance. However, the number of c-Fos-expressing neurons did not change during female sexual behavior. These findings suggest that the SDA-DH contains a neuronal cell population, the activity of which decreases in females exhibiting higher performance of maternal behavior, but it may contribute less to female sexual behavior. Additionally, we examined the brain of common marmosets and found an area that appears to be homologous with the mouse SDA-DH. The sexually dimorphic structure identified in this study is not specific to mice and may be found in other species.

scholarly journals Sex-biased gene expression in rhesus macaque and human brains

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex R. DeCasien ◽  
Chet C. Sherwood ◽  
James P. Higham
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Purifying Selection ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Brain Gene Expression ◽  
Human Brains

AbstractSexually dimorphic traits (i.e. phenotypic differences between males and females) are largely produced by sex-biased gene expression (i.e. differential expression of genes present in both sexes). These expression differences may be the result of sexual selection, although other factors (e.g., relaxed purifying selection, pleiotropy, dosage compensation) also contribute. Given that humans and other primates exhibit sex differences in cognition and neuroanatomy, this implicates sex differences in brain gene expression. Here, we compare sex-biased gene expression in humans and rhesus macaques across 16 brain regions using published RNA-Seq datasets. Our results demonstrate that most sex-biased genes are differentially expressed between species, and that overlap across species is limited. Human brains are relatively more sexually dimorphic and exhibit more male-than female-biased genes. Across species, gene expression is biased in opposite directions in some regions and in the same direction in others, suggesting that the latter may be more relevant in nonhuman primate models of neurological disorders. Finally, the brains of both species exhibit positive correlations between sex effects across regions, higher tissue specificity among sex-biased genes, enrichment of extracellular matrix among male-biased genes, and regulation of sex-biased genes by sex hormones. Taken together, our results demonstrate some conserved mechanisms underlying sex-biased brain gene expression, while also suggesting that increased neurodevelopmental plasticity and/or strong sexual selection on cognitive abilities may have played a role in shaping sex-biased brain gene expression in the human lineage.

scholarly journals Environmental-Like Exposure to Low Levels of Estrogen Affects Sexual Behavior and Physiology of Female Rats

Endocrinology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 149 (11) ◽  
pp. 5592-5598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Della Seta ◽  
Francesca Farabollini ◽  
Francesco Dessì-Fulgheri ◽  
Leonida Fusani
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Behavior ◽  
Estrous Cycle ◽  
Environmental Exposure ◽  
Reproductive Behavior ◽  
Plasma Levels ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Sprague Dawley ◽  
Female Sexual Behavior

Xenoestrogens are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that mimic the action of endogenous estrogen hormones. Effects of xenoestrogen on aquatic wildlife are well documented, whereas the experimental evidence for impairment of reproductive behavior and physiology in mammals after exposure to xenoestrogens has been debated. The strongest arguments against such studies have been that the route, time course, and intensity of exposure did not simulate environmental exposure and that the chemicals tested have additional nonestrogenic toxic effects, hindering generalization of actual xenoestrogenic effects. Here we show that environmental-like exposure to the pure estrogen 17α-ethinylestradiol during development alters reproductive behavior and physiology in adult female Sprague-Dawley rats. We simulated environmental exposure by giving low doses (0.4 and 0.004 μg/kg·d) of 17α-ethinylestradiol orally to pregnant females from conception to weaning of the pups, which continued to receive the treatment until puberty. We studied the sexual behavior, estrous cycle, and estradiol plasma levels of intact female rats when they reached 3 months of age. Exposure to the higher dose strongly affected female sexual behavior and physiology, with suppression of lordosis and the estrous cycle and enhanced aggression toward males. The lower dose disrupted appetitive components of sexual behavior that influence the rate of copulation. Estradiol plasma levels were not affected by the treatment. Our study revealed that exposure to low oral doses of a pure estrogen during development alters female sexual behavior and physiology. These results suggest potential risks of reproductive failure from xenoestrogen exposure in realistic ecological conditions.

scholarly journals Gene expression correlates of social evolution in coral reef butterflyfishes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica P. Nowicki ◽  
Morgan S. Pratchett ◽  
Stefan P. W. Walker ◽  
Darren J. Coker ◽  
Lauren A. O’Connell
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Ventral Telencephalon ◽  
Solitary Living ◽  
Social Variation ◽  
Evolution Of Sociality ◽  
Solitary Species

AbstractAnimals display remarkable variation in social behavior. However, outside of rodents, little is known about the neural mechanisms of social variation, and whether they are shared across species and sexes, limiting our understanding of how sociality evolves. Using coral reef butterflyfishes, we examined gene expression correlates of social variation (i.e., pair bonding vs. solitary living) within and between species and sexes. In several brain regions, we quantified gene expression of receptors important for social variation in mammals: oxytocin (OTR), arginine vasopressin (V1aR), dopamine (D1R, D2R), and mu-opioid (MOR). We found that social variation across individuals of the oval butterflyfish, Chaetodon lunulatus, is linked to differences in OTR,V1aR, D1R, D2R, and MOR gene expression within several forebrain regions in a sexually dimorphic manner. However, this contrasted with social variation among six species representing a single evolutionary transition from pair bonded to solitary living. Here, OTR expression within the supracommissural part of the ventral telencephalon was higher in pair bonded than solitary species, specifically in males. These results contribute to the emerging idea that nonapeptide, dopamine, and opioid signaling is a central theme to the evolution of sociality across individuals, although the precise mechanism may be flexible across sexes and species.

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