Brain aromatase and its relationship with parental experience and behavior in male mice.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

In most mammals, paternal care is not mandatory for raising offspring. In house mice, experience with pups governs the extent and quality of paternal care. First-time fathers undergo a dramatic transition from ignoring or killing pups to caring for pups. The behavioral shift occurs together with changes in brain estrogen signaling as indicated by changes in estrogen receptor presence and distribution in multiple areas regulating olfaction, emotion, and motivation.

Methods

We measured changes in the expression of aromatase, the enzyme converting testosterone into estrogen, as an indirect measure of estrogen synthesis, in various areas of the limbic system in mice with increasing paternal experience.

Results

The amount of paternal experience (5 or 27 days)

SUBMITTER: Duarte-Guterman P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11872740 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature