IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v9y2018i1d10.1038_s41467-017-02648-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Medial preoptic area in mice is capable of mediating sexually dimorphic behaviors regardless of gender

Author

Listed:
  • Yi-Chao Wei

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Shao-Ran Wang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Zhuo-Lei Jiao

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Wen Zhang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Jun-Kai Lin

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Xing-Yu Li

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Shuai-Shuai Li

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Xin Zhang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Xiao-Hong Xu

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

The medial preoptic area (mPOA) differs between males and females in nearly all species examined to date, including humans. Here, using fiber photometry recordings of Ca2+ transients in freely behaving mice, we show ramping activities in the mPOA that precede and correlate with sexually dimorphic display of male-typical mounting and female-typical pup retrieval. Strikingly, optogenetic stimulation of the mPOA elicits similar display of mounting and pup retrieval in both males and females. Furthermore, by means of recording, ablation, optogenetic activation, and inhibition, we show mPOA neurons expressing estrogen receptor alpha (Esr1) are essential for the sexually biased display of these behaviors. Together, these results underscore the shared layout of the brain that can mediate sex-specific behaviors in both male and female mice and provide an important functional frame to decode neural mechanisms governing sexually dimorphic behaviors in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi-Chao Wei & Shao-Ran Wang & Zhuo-Lei Jiao & Wen Zhang & Jun-Kai Lin & Xing-Yu Li & Shuai-Shuai Li & Xin Zhang & Xiao-Hong Xu, 2018. "Medial preoptic area in mice is capable of mediating sexually dimorphic behaviors regardless of gender," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-02648-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02648-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02648-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-017-02648-0?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
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Minhao Li & Dawn S. Chen & Ian P. Junker & Fabianna I. Szorenyi & Guan Hao Chen & Arnold J. Berger & Aaron A. Comeault & Daniel R. Matute & Yun Ding, 2024. "Ancestral neural circuits potentiate the origin of a female sexual behavior in Drosophila," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Can Tao & Guang-Wei Zhang & Wen-Jian Sun & Junxiang J. Huang & Li I. Zhang & Huizhong Whit Tao, 2024. "Excitation-inhibition imbalance in medial preoptic area circuits underlies chronic stress-induced depression-like states," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Jing-Jing Yan & Xiao-Jing Ding & Ting He & Ai-Xiao Chen & Wen Zhang & Zi-Xian Yu & Xin-Yu Cheng & Chuan-Yao Wei & Qiao-Dan Hu & Xiao-Yao Liu & Yan-Li Zhang & Mengge He & Zhi-Yong Xie & Xi Zha & Chun X, 2022. "A circuit from the ventral subiculum to anterior hypothalamic nucleus GABAergic neurons essential for anxiety-like behavioral avoidance," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, 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:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-02648-0. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.