Project description:Sexual dimorphism in the brain is well-documented, yet clear binary features akin to genital differences remain elusive. Using the TRAP2 transgenic mouse line to track cFos-driven neuronal activity, we identified a distinct cluster of neurons (~200 µm) in the posterodorsal medial amygdala—termed the DIMPLE—that exhibited binary activation: consistently labeled in females but absent in adult virgin males. This pattern was unaffected by gonadectomy but was present in juvenile males before weaning and re-emerged in adult males after mating. Public RNA-seq data showed prolactin receptor enrichment in this region, and exogenous prolactin administration activated DIMPLE in virgin males. We propose that DIMPLE may support neural mechanisms related to female-typical behavior or paternal readiness.
Project description:Social isolation poses a severe mental and physiological burden on humans. Most animal models that investigate this effect are based on prolonged isolation, which does not mimic the milder conditions experienced by people in the real world. Here we show that in the medial amygdala, a brain structure that is crucial for social memory, acute social isolation causes social memory loss and significant changes in specific mRNAs and proteins.
Project description:Little is known about how Kiss1 cells in the medial amygdala (MeA) are regulated and what other gene transcripts are produced by MeA Kiss1 neurons. Estradiol upregulates Kiss1 expression in the medial amygdala (MeA), but it remains unknown if estradiol regulates other gene transcripts in MeA Kiss1 cells. The goal of this study is to identify novel gene transcripts produced by MeA Kiss1 cells and to determine how estradiol regulates the expression of these transcripts. We selectively isolated mRNA from Kiss1 cells in the MeA of female mice using Ribotag transgenic mice, immunoprecipitation, and RNA-seq. Over 13,000 gene transcripts produced by MeA Kiss1 cells were identified, but only 45 of these transcripts had expression levels altered by estradiol.
Project description:Adolescence is a sensitive window for reward- and stress-associated behavior. Although stress during this period causes long-term changes in behavior in males, how females respond is relatively unknown. Here we show that social isolation stress in adolescence, but not adulthood, induces persistent but opposite effects on anxiety- and cocaine-related behaviors in male vs. female mice, and that these effects are reflected in transcriptional profiles within the adult medial amygdala (meA). By integrating differential gene expression with co-expression network analyses, we identified crystallin mu (Crym), a thyroid hormone binding protein, as a key driver of these transcriptional profiles. Manipulation of Crym specifically within adult meA neurons recapitulates the behavioral and transcriptional effects of social isolation and re-opens a window of plasticity that is otherwise closed. Our results establish that meA is essential for sex-specific responses to stressful and rewarding stimuli through transcriptional programming that occurs during adolescence.
Project description:This project examined if sex differences in K48 polyubiquitination in the amygdala were developmentally regulated. This used basolateral amygdala (BLA) samples collected from 4 and 9 week old male and female Sprague-Dawley rats.