Sex Differences in Hippocampal Neuronal Sensitization by Nicotine in M. gerbils.
10.4196/kjpp.2013.17.5.405
- Author:
Young Na HUR
1
;
Joon LEE
;
Seung Chan SOHN
;
Chung Gil WON
;
Hyung Ha LEE
;
Dong Hoon KIM
;
Sang Hyun CHOI
;
Kyung Ho SHIN
;
Boe Gwun CHUN
Author Information
1. Department of Pharmacology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul 136-705, Korea. bgchun@korea.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Connexin;
Evoked population spike;
Hippocampus;
Nicotine;
Sex difference
- MeSH:
Animals;
Connexins;
Connexin 43;
Female;
Gerbillinae*;
Hippocampus;
Male;
Neurons*;
Nicotine*;
Sex Characteristics*
- From:The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
2013;17(5):405-409
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
We studied the sex different nicotine effect on evoked population spike amplitudes (ePSA) and connexin (Cx) expression in the hippocampus CA1 area of gerbils. Acute doses of nicotine bitartrate (0.5 mg/kg: NT-0.5) slightly reduced ePSA in males but markedly augmented that in females. Acute NT (5.0 mg/kg) markedly increased the ePSA in all gerbils. Unlike acute NT-0.5, repeated NT-0.5 injection (twice a day for 7 days) significantly increased the ePSA in males and slightly affected the NT-0.5 effect in females. The Cx36 and Cx43 expression levels as well as Cx expressing neuronal populations were significantly increased by repeated NT-0.5 in in both male and female gerbils, and particularly, Cx43 expression was somewhat prominent in females. These results demonstrated a sex difference with respect to the nicotine effect on hippocampal bisynaptic excitability, irrelevant to connexin expression.
