Differential distribution of estrogen receptor (ER)-α and ER-β in the midbrain raphe nuclei and periaqueductal gray in male mouse: Predominant role of ER-β in midbrain serotonergic systems
Section snippets
Mice
Gonadally intact adult male αERKO (Lubahn et al., 1993) and βERKO (Krege et al., 1998) mice and their respective WT (αWT and βWT) littermates at age 9–14 weeks were used. They were obtained from the αERKO and the βERKO breeding colonies maintained at the Rockefeller University by mating heterozygous male and female mice. Original breeding pairs (mixed background of C57BL/6J and 129) were obtained from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Mice were group-housed (four to five
Distribution of ER-α ir and effects of ER-β gene disruption on the expression of ER-α in the midbrain raphe nuclei
ER-α ir neurons, with weak to moderate staining intensity, were observed scattered across the three subdivisions of the DRN (dorsal, ventral and lateral subdivisions) and the MPRN of βWT mice (Figs. 1A and 2A). Quantitative analysis revealed that the number of ER-α cells in the dorsal, ventral, and lateral subdivisions of the DRN peaked at the level of Bregma approximately −4.60 to approximately −4.72 (Fig. 1A), whereas in the MPRN, the number of ER-α cells decreased toward caudal levels.
Discussion
The present study provides the first detailed report on the distribution of ER-α and ER-β across the subdivisions of the DRN, the MPRN, and the PAG, in the intact male murine brain. We have found that ER-β is much more abundant than ER-α in the raphe nuclei, while the ER-α predominates in the PAG. Differential distribution of ER-α and ER-β in the DRN was particularly pronounced in serotonergic neurons, as we found that ER-β ir cells co-localized with TPH ir cells in the DRN to a much greater
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Dr. V. Giguere at McGill University for his kind gift of ER-β cDNA and Dr. H. Tanaka at the University of Kumamoto and Dr. S. Hayashi at Yokohama City University for their kind gift of the ER-β probes. The authors also thank Dr. E. G. Mirasol, Ms I. Dorfman, and Ms L. Durbak for their technical assistance. Support and encouragement for this study by Dr. B. S. McEwen is greatly appreciated. MN was a recipient of postdoctoral fellowships for research abroad from the
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Detection and Characterization of Estrogen Receptor Beta Expression in the Brain with Newly Developed Transgenic Mice
2020, NeuroscienceCitation Excerpt :Third, there are a number of studies suggesting that ERβ-mediated estrogenic action on progesterone receptors (PR) and the serotonergic system in the DRN may be involved in anxiolytic effects of E2 (Hiroi et al., 2006; Donner and Handa, 2009). Therefore, we examined co-expression of ERβ with PR and tryptophan hydroxylase (Tph) in the DRN, which are known to be affected by ERβ gene disruption (Alves et al., 2000; Nomura et al., 2005). The mouse Esr2 promoter-mRFP1 (monomeric red fluorescent protein 1) BAC transgene was purified for microinjection using a slight modification of the procedure described previously (Abe et al., 2004).
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Present address: Department of Urology, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaolea, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu-city 807-8555, Japan.