Sex differences in microRNA-mRNA networks: examination of novel epigenetic programming mechanisms in the sexually dimorphic neonatal hypothalamus.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sexual differentiation of the male brain, and specifically the stress circuitry in the hypothalamus, is primarily driven by estrogen exposure during the perinatal period. Surprisingly, this single hormone promotes diverse programs of sex-specific development that vary widely between different cell types and across the developing male brain. The complexity of this phenomenon suggests that additional layers of gene regulation, including microRNAs (miRNAs), must act downstream of estrogen to mediate this specificity.

Methods

To identify noncanonical mediators of estrogen-dependent sex-specific neural development, we assayed the miRNA complement of the mouse PN2 hypothalamus by microarray following an injection of vehicle or the aromatase inhibitor, formestane. Initia

SUBMITTER: Morgan CP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5558756 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature