| First Author | Matsuda KI | Year | 2013 |
| Journal | Eur J Neurosci | Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 2242-9 |
| PubMed ID | 23601009 | Mgi Jnum | J:220420 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5634637 | Doi | 10.1111/ejn.12227 |
| Citation | Matsuda KI, et al. (2013) Visualisation and characterisation of oestrogen receptor alpha-positive neurons expressing green fluorescent protein under the control of the oestrogen receptor alpha promoter. Eur J Neurosci 38(2):2242-9 |
| abstractText | Oestrogen receptor (ER)alpha plays important roles in the development and function of various neuronal systems through activation by its ligands, oestrogens. To visualise ERalpha-positive neurons, we generated transgenic (tg) mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the ERalpha promoter. In three independent tg lines, GFP-positive neurons were observed in areas previously reported to express ERalpha mRNA, including the lateral septum, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, medial preoptic nucleus (MPO), hypothalamus, and amygdala. In these areas, GFP signals mostly overlapped with ERalpha immunoreactivity. GFP fluorescence was seen in neurites and cell bodies of neurons. In addition, the network and detailed structure of neurites were visible in dissociated and slice cultures of hypothalamic neurons. We examined the effect of oestrogen deprivation by ovariectomy on the structure of the GFP-positive neurons. The area of ERalpha-positive cell bodies in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and MPO was measured by capturing the GFP signal and was found to be significantly smaller in ovariectomy mice than in control mice. When neurons in the MPO were infected with an adeno-associated virus that expressed small hairpin RNA targeting the ERalpha gene, an apparent induction of GFP was observed in this area, suggesting a negative feedback mechanism in which ERalpha controls expression of the ERalpha gene itself. Thus, the ERalpha promoter-GFP tg mice will be useful to analyse the development and plastic changes of the structure of ERalpha-expressing neurons and oestrogen and its receptor-mediated neuronal responses. |
