title: Estrogen in prefrontal cortex blocks stress-induced cognitive impairments in female rats.
abstract: Animal and human studies have found that males and females show distinct stress responses. Recent studies suggest the contribution of estrogen in the brain to this sexual dimorphism. Repeated stress has been found to impair cognitive behaviors via suppressing glutamatergic transmission and glutamate receptor surface expression in pyramidal neurons of prefrontal cortex (PFC) in male rats. On the contrary, female rats exposed to the same stress paradigms show normal synaptic function and PFC-mediated cognition. The level of aromatase, the enzyme for the biosynthesis of estrogen, is significantly higher in the PFC of females than males. The stress-induced glutamatergic deficits and memory impairment are unmasked by blocking estrogen receptors or aromatase in females, suggesting a protective role of estrogen against the detrimental effects of repeated stress.
authors: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA.
authors: Eunice Y
authors: EY
authors: Yuen
authors: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Wei
authors: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA. Electronic address: zhenyan@buffalo.edu.
authors: Zhen
authors: Z
authors: Yan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001141:Aromatase / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D003071:Cognition; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D004967:Estrogens / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013569:Synapses / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D001141:Aromatase
keywords: Cognition; Estrogen; Glutamate receptors; Sexual dimorphism; Stress