Effect of Testosterone on Neuronal Morphology and Neuritic Growth of Fetal Lamb Hypothalamus-Preoptic Area and Cerebral Cortex in Primary Culture

Abstract

Testosterone plays an essential role in sexual differentiation of the male sheep brain. The ovine sexually dimorphic nucleus (oSDN), is 2 to 3 times larger in males than in females, and this sex difference is under the control of testosterone. The effect of testosterone on oSDN volume may result from enhanced expansion of soma areas and/or dendritic fields. To test this hypothesis, cells derived from the hypothalamus-preoptic area (HPOA) and cerebral cortex (CTX) of lamb fetuses were grown in primary culture to examine the direct morphological effects of testosterone on these cellular components. We found that within two days of plating, neurons derived from both the HPOA and CTX extend neuritic processes and express androgen receptors and aromatase immunoreactivity. Both treated and control neurites continue to grow and branch with increasing time in culture. Treatment with testosterone (10 nM) for 3 days significantly (P < 0.05) increased both total neurite outgrowth (35%) and soma size (8%) in the HPOA and outgrowth (21%) and number of branch points (33%) in the CTX. These findings indicate that testosterone-induced somal enlargement and neurite outgrowth in fetal lamb neurons may contribute to the development of a fully masculine sheep brain.

High-throughput screen for compounds that modulate neurite growth of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons

“…Letrozole is an inhibitor of the aromatase CYP19A1, which converts androgen to estrogen. Our identification of letrozole is consistent with reported neurite growth-promoting activities associated with androgens ( Estrada et al, 2006 ; Marron et al, 2005 ; Reddy et al, 2015 ), and implies that CYP19A1, which is expressed in fetal brain ( Montelli et al, 2012 ), is expressed in hiPSC-derived neurons. Alternatively, letrozole could have off-target effects in our assay.…”

Isolation and culture of porcine primary fetal progenitors and neurons from the developing dorsal telencephalon

“…We decided to culture the dorsal telencephalon, since this was a relatively easy part of the cortex to remove from the foetuses (peripheral medial and posterior cortex) at these early stages of fetal development. We selected the papain dissociation method, since it has been successfully used to dissociate fetal cortex tissues prior [152527]. To ensure high progenitor and neuron cell survival, the first steps of resuspension were performed in high percentage (10% FBS) which was then reduced to 1% FBS for the culture period.…”

“…Survival time of fetal neurons in vitro thus appears to be very limited. One study in a large mammalian model, the sheep, showed that cerebral cortex neurons could be cultured for 5 days in neural basal medium (NBM) supplemented with B-27 and GlutaMAX (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) [25]. Another study culturing primary cortical neurons from week 12–16 human brains in relatively simple media, including minimum essential media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) allowed for maintenance of cells in vitro for up to 3 weeks [26].…”

The Influence of Physical Exercises on Psychic Disorders

“…Hagiu Bogdan-Alexandru, Associate Professor, Physiology muscle fibers [2] and growth hormone receptors are expressed in neurons [3]. The same dual action is testosterone [4,5]. As a result, it is tempting to suppose that the beneficial effects of the two hormones are manifested not only on the development of the nervous system in correlation with the motor needs, but also on the improvement of some psychiatric diseases.…”