Estrus-cycle regulation of cortical inhibition

Item Type:

Article

Title:

Creators Name:

Clemens, A.M. and Lenschow, C. and Beed, P. and Li, L. and Sammons, R. and Naumann, R.K. and Wang, H. and Schmitz, D. and Brecht, M.

Abstract:

Female mammals experience cyclical changes in sexual receptivity known as the estrus cycle. Little is known about how estrus affects the cortex, although alterations in sensation, cognition and the cyclical occurrence of epilepsy suggest brain-wide processing changes. We performed in vivo juxtacellular and whole-cell recordings in somatosensory cortex of female rats and found that the estrus cycle potently altered cortical inhibition. Fast-spiking interneurons were strongly activated with social facial touch and varied their ongoing activity with the estrus cycle and estradiol in ovariectomized females, while regular-spiking excitatory neurons did not change. In situ hybridization for estrogen receptor β (Esr2) showed co-localization with parvalbumin-positive (PV(+)) interneurons in deep cortical layers, mirroring the laminar distribution of our physiological findings. The fraction of neurons positive for estrogen receptor β (Esr2) and PV co-localization (Esr2(+)PV(+)) in cortical layer V was increased in proestrus. In vivo and in vitro experiments confirmed that estrogen acts locally to increase fast-spiking interneuron excitability through an estrogen-receptor-β-dependent mechanism.

Keywords:

Estrus, Parvalbumin, Inhibition, Interneurons, Cortex, Female, Rat, Social Touch, Animals, Rats

Source:

Current Biology

ISSN:

0960-9822

Publisher:

Cell Press

Volume:

Number:

Page Range:

605-615

Date:

18 February 2019

Official Publication:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.01.045

PubMed:

View item in PubMed

Related to:

URL	URL Type
https://edoc.mdc-berlin.de/17693/	Preprint version

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