Journal
BRAIN RESEARCH
Volume 1209, Issue -, Pages 115-127Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.02.061
Keywords
aromatase; estrogen; hippocampus; interneuron; neocortex; pyramidal cells
Categories
Funding
- NIA NIH HHS [P01 AG016765-09, P01 AG016765-090003, AG16765, P01 AG016765] Funding Source: Medline
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Numerous studies have shown that neuronal plasticity in the hippocampus and neocortex is regulated by estrogen and that aromatase, the key enzyme for estrogen biosynthesis, is present in cerebral cortex. Although the expression pattern of aromatase mRNA has been described in the monkey brain, its precise cellular distribution has not been determined. In addition, the degree to which neuronal aromatase is affected by gonadal estrogen has not been investigated. In this study, we examined the immunohistochemical distribution of aromatase in young ovariectomized female rhesus monkeys with or without long-term cyclic estradiol treatment. Both experimental groups showed that aromatase is localized in a large population of CA1-3 pyramidal cells, in granule cells of the dentate gyrus and in some interneurons in which it was co-expressed with the calcium-binding proteins calbindin, calretinin, and parvalbumin. Moreover, numerous pyramidal cells were immunoreactive for aromatase in the neocortex, whereas only small subpopulations of neocortical interneurons were immunoreactive for aromatase. The widespread expression of the protein in a large neuronal population suggests that local intraneuroral estrogen synthesis may contribute to estrogen-induced synaptic plasticity in monkey hippocampus and neocortex of female rhesus monkeys. In addition, the apparent absence of obvious differences in aromatase distribution between the two experimental groups suggests that these localization patterns are not dependent on plasma estradiol levels. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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