title: The development of female sexual behavior requires prepubertal estradiol.
abstract: The classic view of brain and behavioral sexual differentiation holds that the neural mechanisms controlling sexual behavior in female rodents develop in the absence of ovarian sex hormone actions. However, in a previous study, female aromatase knock-out (ArKO) mice, which cannot convert testosterone to estradiol, showed deficient male-oriented partner preference and lordosis behaviors in response to adult ovarian hormones, raising the possibility that estradiol may contribute to the development of these female sexual behaviors. In the present experiments, administering estradiol prepubertally [between postnatal day 15 (P15) and P25] significantly enhanced the ability of ArKO female mice to display lordosis behavior in response to ovarian hormones administered later in adulthood, whereas treatment with estradiol over an earlier postnatal period (P5-P15) had no such effect. Treatment of ArKO females with estradiol between P15 and P25 also rescued their later preference to approach distal cues from an intact male over an estrous female. ArKO females also displayed significantly less female-directed (male-typical) mounting behavior than wild-type control females when treated with testosterone in adulthood. Prepubertal estradiol treatment failed to reverse this deficit in ArKO females, whereas earlier postnatal estradiol augmented later mounting in both genotypes. Our results provide new evidence for an organizing role of prepubertal estradiol in the development of neural mechanisms that control female-typical sexual behavior.
authors.affiliation: Groupe Interdisciplinaire de Génoprotéomique Appliquée (GIGA)-Neurosciences, University of Liege, 4000 Liege, Belgium.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Baum
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bakker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001141:Aromatase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004958:Estradiol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D030762:Estrous Cycle / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D010052:Ovariectomy; D011187:Posture; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000187:drug effects*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone; D004958:Estradiol; D001141:Aromatase