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siRNA silencing of estrogen receptor-α expression specifically in medial preoptic area neurons abolishes maternal care in female mice.

Abstract：

:The medial preoptic area has been shown to be intricately involved in many behaviors, including locomotion, sexual behavior, maternal care, and aggression. The gene encoding estrogen receptor-α (ERα) protein is expressed in preoptic area neurons, and a very dense immunoreactive field of ERα is found in the preoptic region. ERα knockout animals show deficits in maternal care and sexual behavior and fail to exhibit increases in these behaviors in response to systemic estradiol treatment. In the present study, we used viral-vector mediated RNA interference to silence ERα expression specifically in the preoptic area of female mice and measured a variety of behaviors, including social and sexual aggression, maternal care, and arousal activity. Suppression of ERα in the preoptic area almost completely abolished maternal care, significantly increasing the latency to pup retrieval and significantly reducing the time the moms spent nursing and licking the pups. Strikingly, maternal aggression toward a male intruder was not different between control and preoptic ERα-silenced mice, demonstrating the remarkably specific role of ERα in these neurons. Reduction of ERα expression in preoptic neurons significantly decreased sexual behavior in female mice and increased aggression toward both sexual partners and male intruders in a seminatural environment. Estrogen-dependent increases in arousal, measured by home cage activity, were not mediated by ERα expression in the preoptic neurons we targeted, as ERα-suppressed mice had increases similar to control mice. Thus, we have established that a specific gene in a specific group of neurons is required for a crucially important natural behavior.

journal_name

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

journal_title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

authors

Ribeiro AC,Musatov S,Shteyler A,Simanduyev S,Arrieta-Cruz I,Ogawa S,Pfaff DW

doi

10.1073/pnas.1214094109

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2012-10-02 00:00:00

pages

16324-9

issue

eissn

0027-8424

issn

1091-6490

pii

1214094109

journal_volume

109

pub_type

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siRNA silencing of estrogen receptor-α expression specifically in medial preoptic area neurons abolishes maternal care in female mice.