Immunolocalisation of α and β Oestrogen Receptors in Basolateral Amygdala of Rabbit Males

Abstract

Expression of α (ER-α) and β (ER-ß) oestrogen receptors in neurons of basolateral complex of the amygdala was studied in rabbit males. The examinations were carried out on brains of 12 sexually mature rabbit males weighing 3-4 kg. An immunohistochemical method (IHC) with primary Er-α antibodies, NCL-L6F11 and Er-ß: NCL-ERbeta clone EMR02 was applied. The percentage of immunoreactive neurons was determined. Morphometric and statistical analysis of immunoreactive (ER+) neurons was carried out including the localisation of IHC reaction within the examined neurons. The main place of IHC-ER-α reaction was the cytoplasm of nervous cells, whereas in the examination of IHC-ER-β, the reaction was observed mainly within cell nucleus. The nuclei of basolateral complex are a region of relatively high percentage of ER-β+ neurons and lower percentage of ER-α+ neurons in comparison with other nuclei of the amygdala. Basolateral nucleus was characterised by a higher percentage of ER-β+ neurons in which the reaction was observed in the cytoplasm.

Comparison of localisation of α- and β-oestrogen receptors in posterior part of the piriform cortex in rabbit males

“…Er-α in comparison to Er-β localised primarily in neuron cytoplasm. This difference was observed not only in PC but in other brain areas such as amygdale and hippocampus (11,15). The previous studies have shown that in PC, there are interneurons classified according to the expression of two types of cell markers (molecular markers) -calcium-binding proteins and neuropeptides (23).…”

“…Oestrogen hormones act on nerve tissue by means of receptors. The examinations performed on rabbits have proven that oestrogen receptors occur in structures of the amygdala in rabbit males (15). It refers to α-and β-oestrogen receptors.…”

Electroencephalographic changes and testosterone levels in a pubertal stress animal model: effects on adult sexual motivation

“…Those rats also presented alterations in aromatase activity (Di Prisco, Lucarini, & Dessi-Fulgheri, 1978), which aromatizes T into estradiol (Moralí, Larsson, & Beyer, 1977;Muller, Van Den Beld, Van Der Schouw, Grobbe, & Lamberts, 2006) and activates sexual motivation. These hormones produce non-genomic effects in the neuronal membrane that modulates the electrical activity of neurons in several brain areas (del Río-Portilla, Ugalde, Juárez, Roldán, & Corsi-Cabrera, 1997;Joëls, 1997;Poblano et al, 2004;Balthazart, Baillien, Cornil, & Ball, 2004), including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the basolateral amygdala (BLA), two cerebral structures that have androgen (Naghdi, Oryan, & Etemadi, 2003;Nuñez, Huppenbauer, McAbee, Juraska, & DonCarlos, 2003), estrogen (Montague et al, 2009;Lonc, 2012), and glucocorticoid (Pryce, 2008) receptors. The BLA has strong connections with the mPFC, especially layers II and V, in rodents (Cunningham, Bhattacharyya, & Benes, 2002).…”