| First Author | Hill RA | Year | 2007 |
| Journal | Biol Psychiatry | Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 359-66 |
| PubMed ID | 16566897 | Mgi Jnum | J:129528 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3769619 | Doi | 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.01.012 |
| Citation | Hill RA, et al. (2007) Estrogen deficient male mice develop compulsive behavior. Biol Psychiatry 61(3):359-66 |
| abstractText | BACKGROUND: Aromatase converts androgen to estrogen. Thus, the aromatase knockout (ArKO) mouse is estrogen deficient. We investigated the compulsive behaviors of these animals and the protein levels of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) in frontal cortex, hypothalamus and liver. METHODS: Grooming was analyzed during the 20-min period immediately following a water-mist spray. Running wheel activity over two consecutive nights and barbering were analyzed. COMT protein levels were measured by Western analysis. RESULTS: Six-month old male but not female ArKO mice develop compulsive behaviors such as excessive barbering, grooming and wheel-running. Excessive activities were reversed by 3 weeks of 17beta-estradiol replacement. Interestingly, the presentation of compulsive behaviors is accompanied by concomitant decreases (p < .05) in hypothalamic COMT protein levels in male ArKO mice. These values returned to normal upon 17beta-estradiol treatment. In contrast, hepatic and frontal cortex COMT levels were not affected by the estrogen status, indicating region- and tissue-specific regulation of COMT levels by estrogen. No differences in COMT levels were detectable between female animals of both genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: This study describes the novel observation of a possible link between estrogen, COMT and development of compulsive behaviors in male animals which may have therapeutic implications in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. |
