title: A comparative study of sex difference in calbindin neurons among mice, musk shrews, and Japanese quails.
abstract: The medial preoptic nucleus (MPN) and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) of mice contain sexually dimorphic nuclei (SDNs) that are larger and have more neurons expressing calbindin D-28K (CB), a calcium-binding protein, in males than females. However, it is largely unknown whether such SDNs exist in species other than rodents. In this study, we performed an immunohistochemical study of CB in the MPN and BNST of musk shrews and Japanese quails to examine the existence of homologs of SDNs in mice. Like mice, musk shrews had a SDN exhibiting male-biased sex differences in volume and CB-immunoreactive (ir) cell number in the MPN. The BNST of musk shrews also contained a male-biased SDN, but consisted of non-CB neurons. The paratenial thalamic nucleus of musk shrews, but not mice, had more CB-ir cells in males than females. In Japanese quails of both sexes, CB-ir cells in the MPN and BNST were extremely small in number and did not cluster. These results suggest that the distribution of CB neurons differs among these species. Musk shrews may have a homolog of the SDN composed of CB neurons in the MPN of mice.
authors.affiliation: Area of Regulatory Biology, Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
authors.forename: Yadanar
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Moe
authors.affiliation: Area of Regulatory Biology, Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Area of Regulatory Biology, Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.affiliation: Area of Regulatory Biology, Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryoko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ohata
authors.affiliation: Area of Regulatory Biology, Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
authors.forename: Chihiro
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nakahara
authors.affiliation: Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba 305-8506, Japan.
authors.forename: Takaharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawashima
authors.affiliation: Area of Regulatory Biology, Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan; Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba 305-8506, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumihiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maekawa
authors.affiliation: Area of Regulatory Biology, Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sakata
authors.affiliation: Area of Regulatory Biology, Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.affiliation: Area of Regulatory Biology, Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama 338-8570, Japan. Electronic address: stsuka@mail.saitama-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsukahara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D064026:Calbindins / Q000378:metabolism*; D003370:Coturnix / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D011301:Preoptic Area / Q000378:metabolism*; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000378:metabolism*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012788:Shrews / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D064026:Calbindins
keywords: Calbindin; Japanese quail; Mouse; Musk shrew; Sexually dimorphic nucleus