Effect of exogenous androgen on structures of sexually dimorphism nucleus in preoptic area and anteroventral periventricular nucleus before sexual differentiation in female rats.
- Author:
Man-li HUANG
1
;
Ning WEI
;
Jian-bo HU
;
Yi XU
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH: Androgens; pharmacology; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Female; Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus; anatomy & histology; drug effects; Preoptic Area; anatomy & histology; drug effects; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Sex Differentiation
- From: Journal of Zhejiang University. Medical sciences 2008;37(5):483-486
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of androgen on sexually dimorphism nucleus in preoptic area (SDN-POA) and anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV) before sexual differentiation of the brain in female rats.
METHODSNeonatal female SD rats (n=12) were randomly divided into two groups: androgen group and control group. Twenty-four hours after birth animals were subjected to intraperitoneal injection of 50 microl of testosterone propionate (TP,10.0 g/L) or aseptic oil as control. The rats were sacrificed 60 days after the injection and the brains were collected for crystal violet staining. LEICA Q Win system was applied in detecting the boundaries of SDN-POA and AVPV, then the volumes of SDN-POA and AVPV were calculated.
RESULTSThe volumes of SDN-POA in androgen group were significantly larger than those in control group [(16.77+/-2.68) vs (8.99+/-1.42)mm(3)x10(-3), P<0.01], while the volumes of AVPV in androgen group were significantly smaller than those in control group [(9.14+/-1.16) vs (14.62+/-2.80)mm(3)x10(-3), P<0.01].
CONCLUSIONExogenous androgen rendered before sexual differentiation in female rats results in enlargement of SDN-POA volumes and reduction of AVPV.
