Sex- and Estrus-Dependent Differences in Rat Basolateral Amygdala
Sex- and Estrus-Dependent Differences in Rat Basolateral Amygdala
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.0758-17.2017
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发表时间：
2017-11-01
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Rosenkranz, J. Amiel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Blume, Shannon R.;Freedberg, Mari;Rosenkranz, J. Amiel
女性被诊断出抑郁和焦虑的几率几乎是男性的两倍，而且男性和女性的症状不同，而且对性激素很敏感。基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）与男性和女性以及整个生殖周期的不同情绪相关行为有关。这暗示了BLA功能与性或发情有关的特征，对此我们知之甚少。本研究的目的是测试大鼠BLA生理是否存在性别差异或发情周期，并确定其机制相关性。研究人员发现，雌性雌性脑区侧核（LAT）和基底核（BA）神经元的活性存在显著的性别差异，这些差异与雌性雌性大脑区更大的兴奋性突触输入有关。我们还发现LAT和BA神经元的活动在整个发情周期中存在很大差异。这些差异与抑制-兴奋平衡的变化有关，因此LAT在发情前期具有相对较大的抑制作用，这与更快的线索恐惧消退相对应。相比之下，BA在灾难中有相对更大的抑制作用，与更快的情境恐惧消退平行。这些结果首次证明了BLA神经元活动的性别差异以及发情周期对这些测量的影响。在发情周期中LAT和BA优势之间的转变为理解发情周期对bla依赖行为的影响提供了一个简单的结构。这些结果为理解情绪记忆的周期性提供了一个新的框架，并强调了在研究女性BLA时考虑卵巢周期的重要性。
Depression and anxiety are diagnosed almost twice as often in women, and the symptomology differs in men and women and is sensitive to sex hormones. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) contributes to emotion-related behaviors that differ between males and females and across the reproductive cycle. This hints at sex-or estrus-dependent features of BLA function, about which very little is known. The purpose of this study was to test whether there are sex differences or estrouscyclicity in rat BLA physiology and to determine their mechanistic correlates. We found substantial sex differences in the activity of neurons in lateral nuclei (LAT) and basal nuclei (BA) of the BLA that were associated with greater excitatory synaptic input in females. We also found strong differences in the activity of LAT and BA neurons across the estrous cycle. These differences were associated with a shift in the inhibition-excitation balance such that LAT had relatively greater inhibition during proestrus which paralleled more rapid cued fear extinction. In contrast, BA had relatively greater inhibition during diestrus that paralleled more rapid contextual fear extinction. These results are the first to demonstrate sex differences in BLA neuronal activity and the impact of estrous cyclicity on these measures. The shift between LAT and BA predominance across the estrous cycle provides a simple construct for understanding the effects of the estrous cycle on BLA-dependent behaviors. These results provide a novel framework to understand the cyclicity of emotional memory and highlight the importance of considering ovarian cycle when studying the BLA of females.