Esr1-Dependent Signaling and Transcriptional Maturation in the Medial Preoptic Area of the Hypothalamus Shapes the Development of Mating Behavior during Adolescence.

ABSTRACT: Mating and other behaviors emerge during adolescence through the coordinated actions of steroid hormone signaling throughout the nervous system and periphery. In this study, we investigated the transcriptional dynamics of the medial preoptic area (MPOA), a critical region for reproductive behavior, using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) and in situ hybridization techniques in male and female mice throughout adolescence development. Our findings reveal that estrogen receptor 1 (Esr1) plays a pivotal role in the transcriptional maturation of GABAergic neurons within the MPOA during adolescence. Deletion of the estrogen receptor gene, Esr1, in GABAergic neurons (Vgat+) disrupted the developmental progression of mating behaviors in both sexes, while its deletion in glutamate

SUBMITTER: Hashikawa K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11888408 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature