title: Estrogen protects against the detrimental effects of repeated stress on glutamatergic transmission and cognition.
abstract: Converging evidence suggests that females and males show different responses to stress; however, little is known about the mechanism underlying the sexually dimorphic effects of stress. In this study, we found that young female rats exposed to 1 week of repeated restraint stress show no negative effects on temporal order recognition memory (TORM), a cognitive process controlled by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which was contrary to the impairment in TORM observed in stressed males. Concomitantly, normal glutamatergic transmission and glutamate receptor surface expression in PFC pyramidal neurons were found in repeatedly stressed females, in contrast to the significant reduction seen in stressed males. The detrimental effects of repeated stress on TORM and glutamate receptors were unmasked in stressed females when estrogen receptors were inhibited or knocked down in PFC, and were prevented in stressed males with the administration of estradiol. Blocking aromatase, the enzyme for the biosynthesis of estrogen, revealed the stress-induced glutamatergic deficits and memory impairment in females, and the level of aromatase was significantly higher in the PFC of females than in males. These results suggest that estrogen protects against the detrimental effects of repeated stress on glutamatergic transmission and PFC-dependent cognition, which may underlie the stress resilience of females.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY, USA.
authors.forename: E Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Yuen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY, USA.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
authors.forename: I N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Karatsoreos
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: McEwen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001141:Aromatase / Q000378:metabolism; D047072:Aromatase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004958:Estradiol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004967:Estrogens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate / Q000378:metabolism; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D047072:Aromatase Inhibitors; D004967:Estrogens; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D004958:Estradiol; D001141:Aromatase