| Budget Amount *help |
¥18,850,000 (Direct Cost: ¥14,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥4,350,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥5,850,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,350,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥5,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,200,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥5,070,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,170,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
The neural mechanism controlling sexual behavior in mice are sexually differentiated by the actions of sex steroids during the critical periods. However the physiological significance of fetal estrogen effects on the sexually dimorphic behavior remain poorly unknown. To study the direct effect of estrogen exposure in the fetal period on the sexually dimorphic behavior, we generated a transgenic mouse expressing EGFP-tagged aromatase, which converts androgen to estrogen, specifically in the placenta under the control of murine placental lactogen 2 promoter. Mice normally cannot produce estrogen in the placenta because lack of placental aromatase, but ArE-TG mice can produce estrogen in the placenta and are exposed to excessive estrogens from the placenta in the fetal periods. As a result, we found estrogen responsive positive cells in sexually dimorphic nucleus of fetal brain. Our findings suggest that the prenatal actions of estrogen may be involved in the sexually dimorphic behavior.
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