IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-47300-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stress during pubertal development affects female sociosexual behavior in mice

Author

Listed:
  • Yassine Bentefour

    (GIGA Neurosciences-Neuroendocrinology Lab – University of Liège)

  • Julie Bakker

    (GIGA Neurosciences-Neuroendocrinology Lab – University of Liège)

Abstract

Puberty is a crucial phase for the development of female sexual behavior. Growing evidence suggests that stress during this period may interfere with the development of sexual behavior. However, the neural circuits involved in this alteration remain elusive. Here, we demonstrated in mice that pubertal stress permanently disrupted sexual performance without affecting sexual preference. This was associated with a reduced expression and activation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl). Fiber photometry revealed that VMHvl nNOS neurons are strongly responsive to male olfactory cues with this activation being substantially reduced in pubertally stressed females. Finally, treatment with a NO donor partially restored sexual performance in pubertally stressed females. This study provides insights into the involvement of VMHvl nNOS in the processing of olfactory cues important for the expression of female sexual behavior. In addition, exposure to stress during puberty disrupts the integration of male olfactory cues leading to reduced sexual behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Yassine Bentefour & Julie Bakker, 2024. "Stress during pubertal development affects female sociosexual behavior in mice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-47300-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47300-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47300-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-47300-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ryan Remedios & Ann Kennedy & Moriel Zelikowsky & Benjamin F. Grewe & Mark J. Schnitzer & David J. Anderson, 2017. "Social behaviour shapes hypothalamic neural ensemble representations of conspecific sex," Nature, Nature, vol. 550(7676), pages 388-392, October.
    2. Vincent Hellier & Olivier Brock & Michael Candlish & Elodie Desroziers & Mari Aoki & Christian Mayer & Richard Piet & Allan Herbison & William Henry Colledge & Vincent Prévot & Ulrich Boehm & Julie Ba, 2018. "Female sexual behavior in mice is controlled by kisspeptin neurons," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tadaaki Nishioka & Suthinee Attachaipanich & Kosuke Hamaguchi & Michael Lazarus & Alban Kerchove d’Exaerde & Tom Macpherson & Takatoshi Hikida, 2023. "Error-related signaling in nucleus accumbens D2 receptor-expressing neurons guides inhibition-based choice behavior in mice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Konstantina Chachlaki, 2024. "A role for nNOS in mediating stress and female sexual behavior in mice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-3, December.
    3. Qiang Yu & Igor Gamayun & Philipp Wartenberg & Qian Zhang & Sen Qiao & Soumya Kusumakshi & Sarah Candlish & Viktoria Götz & Shuping Wen & Debajyoti Das & Amanda Wyatt & Vanessa Wahl & Fabien Ectors & , 2023. "Bitter taste cells in the ventricular walls of the murine brain regulate glucose homeostasis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Drew C. Schreiner & Christian Cazares & Rafael Renteria & Christina M. Gremel, 2022. "Information normally considered task-irrelevant drives decision-making and affects premotor circuit recruitment," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Sen Qiao & Samer Alasmi & Amanda Wyatt & Philipp Wartenberg & Hongmei Wang & Michael Candlish & Debajyoti Das & Mari Aoki & Ramona Grünewald & Ziyue Zhou & Qinghai Tian & Qiang Yu & Viktoria Götz & An, 2023. "Intra-pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone signaling regulates hepatic lipid metabolism in mice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Jennifer Isaac & Sonia Corbett Karkare & Hymavathy Balasubramanian & Nicholas Schappaugh & Jarildy Larimar Javier & Maha Rashid & Malavika Murugan, 2024. "Sex differences in neural representations of social and nonsocial reward in the medial prefrontal cortex," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-27, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-47300-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.