title: Minireview: estrogen receptor-initiated mechanisms causal to mammalian reproductive behaviors.
abstract: While estrogen-facilitated changes in gene expression constitute some of the best-analyzed biochemical phenomena in the regulation of transcription, there have been at least two aspects of this topic that have led to much experimental work about estrogen actions on brain and behavior. The first task has required parsing various behavioral and neurochemical functions according to whether they depend on estrogen receptor-α or estrogen receptor-β. The second task has been the formulation of how nuclear actions of estrogens comport with membrane-initiated actions. With respect to these issues, applications of molecular endocrine approaches to lordosis behavior came first. Currently, the last in the chain of reproductive behaviors, maternal behavior, and an entire range of neural and cognitive functions even more complex in their determinants, must be analyzed using current molecular techniques. This minireview of estrogen actions on the chain of female reproductive behaviors highlights challenging new questions about estrogen actions on cells in the brain, questions that have important practical applications far beyond traditionally studied sex behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10021, USA. pfaff@rockefeller.edu
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pfaff
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Waters
authors.forename: Quaiser
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Xiaoting
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Numan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D043762:Reproductive Behavior / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen