The Correlation with Adult Partner
Preference and Mating Behaviors and Changes in ERβ/ERα Ratio in
Different Brain Regions
Our most robust
finding was that estradiol treatment during perinatal development alters
female partner preferences and sexual conduct. Estradiol appears to
have a masculinizing and defeminizing effect. Female pups were treated
on a daily basis with β-Estradiol (FT) from prenatal day 14 to
postnatal day 10, showed female-directed partner preferences and
masculinized behavior. The distribution of ERα was not a completely
male-like pattern, more ERα-IRs in the the bed nucleus of stria
terminalis (BNST) and medial amygdaloid nucleus (MeA) were found in FT
females than in control males, while the distribution of EREβ in the
BNST, MeA, the preoptic area (mPOA) and ventromedial nucleus of the
hypothalamus (VMH) was completely male-like. We propose that estradiol
treatment during perinatal development alters the ERβ/ERα ratio in
different brain regions and plays an important role in the development
of male partner preferences and sexual conduct.
Read the full article, published by Zoological
Studies, here
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