2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Estrogen-induced neural signaling and behavioral development
| Project/Area Number |
25293031
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Partial Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Environmental and hygienic pharmacy
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| Research Institution | Gifu Pharmaceutical University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
中西 剛 岐阜薬科大学, 薬学部, 准教授 (50303988)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
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| Keywords | エストロゲン / 性分化 / 脳 / 胎生期影響 / 臨界期 |
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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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| Free Research Field |
毒性学
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