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Estrogen Receptor ß Messenger Ribonucleic Acid Expression in the Forebrain of Proestrous, Pregnant, and Lactating Female Rats

Center for Neuroendocrine Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Béatrice Gréco, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Department of Neurology, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655. E-mail: beatrice.greco{at}umassmed.edu.

Estrogen receptor (ER)ß is present in hypothalamic and limbic neurons of female rat brains, but little is known about its regulation under physiological conditions. To determine whether ERß expression varies during physiological conditions in which sex steroid hormone profiles are significantly different, we used in situ hybridization to assess ERß mRNA expression in the periventricular preoptic area, bed nucleus of stria terminalis, paraventricular nucleus, supraoptic nucleus, and the posterodorsal medial amygdala of female rats on proestrus, on d 22 of pregnancy, or on d 10 of lactation (L10). In the periventricular preoptic area, d-22 pregnant females had fewer ERß-mRNA-expressing cells than did females at proestrus, but the level of ERß mRNA expression per cell in pregnant females was higher than in the two other groups. In the paraventricular nucleus, no changes in ERß mRNA expression were observed; whereas in the supraoptic nucleus, proestrous females had fewer ERß-mRNA-expressing cells than L10 females. In the posterodorsal medial amygdala, proestrous females had a greater number of ERß-mRNA-expressing cells than did L10 females. These results demonstrate that ERß mRNA expression is differentially regulated in a brain-region-specific and temporal manner under physiological conditions and suggest that ERß may participate in the regulation of estrogen-sensitive reproductive functions in female rats.

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