| First Author | Koonce CJ | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | Behav Brain Res | Volume | 226 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 376-80 |
| PubMed ID | 21946309 | Mgi Jnum | J:180708 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5306868 | Doi | 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.09.028 |
| Citation | Koonce CJ, et al. (2012) Type 1 5alpha-reductase may be required for estrous cycle changes in affective behaviors of female mice. Behav Brain Res 226(2):376-80 |
| abstractText | There are estrous cycle differences in affective behaviors of rodents that are generally attributed to cyclic variations in estradiol, progesterone (P) and its metabolites. A question is the role of the steroid metabolism enzyme, 5alpha-reductase, for these estrous cycle differences. To address the requirement of 5alpha-reductase, estrous cycle variations in the behavior of wildtype mice and their littermates that are deficient in the 5alpha-reductase type 1 enzyme (5alphaRKO mice) were examined. The hypothesis was that if some of the estrous cycle differences in exploratory (open field) and anxiety (elevated plus maze) are due to P's 5alpha-reduction to 5alpha-pregnan-3alpha-ol-20-one (3alpha,5alpha-THP), then wildtype mice will have estrous cycle differences in the expression of these behaviors, but 5alphaRKO mice will not. Mice were tested in these tasks and then had plasma and brains collected so that steroid levels (estradiol, P, 3alpha,5alpha-THP, corticosterone) could be measured in these tissues. Results supported this hypothesis. There were estrous cycle differences among wildtype, but not 5alphaRKO, mice. Proestrous wildtype mice made more central entries in the open field and spent more time on the open arms of the plus maze, coincident with higher 3alpha,5alpha-THP levels in plasma and brain regions important for these behaviors, such as the hippocampus and cortex, compared to their diestrous counterparts. Variability in the open field and elevated plus maze could be explained by circulating and hippocampus levels of 3alpha,5alpha-THP, respectively. Thus, 5alpha-reductase may be required for the estrous cycle variations in affective behavior and 3alpha,5alpha-THP levels of female mice. |
