Neuronal death in the developing sexually dimorphic periventricular nucleus of the preoptic area in the female rat: effect of neonatal androgen treatment.
Neonatal treatment of female rats with androgen decreases the nuclear volume of the anteroventral periventricular nucleus of the preoptic area (AVPv-POA). In order to examine the effect of androgen on the neural substrates in the developing AVPv-POA which show a sexual dimorphism in nuclear volume, the cell death pattern in the AVPv-POA was compared between normal females and androgenized females. Wistar female rats were treated with 50 micrograms of testosterone propionate (TP) for 5 days from the day of birth. Degenerating cells (pyenotic cells) and normal cells were counted in every third section from days 1 to 13 of life. The rate of pycnotic cells to 1000 cells in TP-treated females sacrificed at days 7 and 10 was significantly higher than that in normal females. These results may suggest that neonatal androgen regulates neuronal death in the AVPv-POA, decreasing the number of neurons in the nucleus.
Murakami
S
S
Department of Anatomy, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Arai
Y
Y
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D009410:Nerve Degeneration; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D011301:Preoptic Area / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013739:Testosterone / Q000494:pharmacology*
D013739:Testosterone