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

Yi-Chao Wei,Wen Zhang,Xiao-Hong Xu,Shuai-Shuai Li,Xin Zhang,Shao-Ran Wang,Jun-Kai Lin,Zhuo-Lei Jiao,Xing-Yu Li

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-02648-0

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.

Highlights

The medial preoptic area differs between males and females in most species examined to date, including humans
To visualize medial preoptic area (mPOA) neural dynamics during behaviors with better temporal resolution, we injected adneno-associated viruses (AAVs) encoding the fluorescent Ca2 + sensor GCaMP6s48 driven by the human synapsin promoter unilaterally into the mPOA of adult C57BL/6 mice and implanted optic fibers (Fig. 1a)
By recording in vivo activities of mPOA neurons during male-typical mating and pup care as well as functional manipulating genetically defined neuronal populations, we find that the mPOA in a fully sexually differentiated adult animal maintains the capacity to drive either male-typical mounting and female-typical pup retrieval and that sexually dimorphic engagements of mPOA Esr1+ neurons likely underlie the observed sex differences in these behaviors

Summary

Introduction

The medial preoptic area (mPOA) differs between males and females in most species examined to date, including humans. 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. By means of recording, ablation, optogenetic activation, and inhibition, we demonstrate that mPOA neurons expressing Esr[1] are essential for sexually biased display of these behaviors Together, these results shed new lights on the function of the mPOA and neural organization of sexually dimorphic behaviors in general

Methods

Results

Conclusion