Social experience is associated with a differential role of aromatase neurons in sexual behavior and territorial aggression in male mice.

Aggression; Aromatase; BNSTpr; MeApd; Sexual behavior; Social experience; Vomeronasal; Animals; Male; Mice; Septal Nuclei/physiology; Septal Nuclei/enzymology; Septal Nuclei/cytology; Amygdala/physiology; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Vomeronasal Organ/physiology; Preoptic Area/physiology; Preoptic Area/metabolism; Aggression/physiology; Neurons/physiology; Neurons/enzymology; Aromatase/metabolism; Aromatase/physiology; Territoriality; Sexual Behavior, Animal/physiology; Social Behavior; Endocrinology; Endocrine and Autonomic Systems; Behavioral Neuroscience

Abstract :

[en] Aromatase (Aro+) neurons located in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis (BNST) are crucial for the display of both sexual behavior and territorial aggression in naive male mice. The postero-dorsal part of the Medial Amygdala (MeApd) also contains Aro + neurons that are required for territorial aggression, but these neurons seem dispensable for the display of sexual behavior in naive animals. However, little is known about how Aro + neuron circuitry is influenced by social experience. Using a combination of chemogenetics, activity mapping and retrograde viral tracing, we show that social experience modulates Aro + neurons during sexual behavior and territorial aggression. Chemogenetic inhibition of BNST Aro + neurons in socially experienced male mice revealed that these neurons are required for territorial aggression, but not for sexual behavior. Behavior testing in experienced animals showed a specific increase in activation in the vomeronasal organ (VNO) and the Medial Amygdala (MeA) after sexual behavior but not territorial aggression, assessed by Egr1 expression. We also observed an increase of Egr1 cells in the medial Preoptic Area (mPOA), a brain region implicated in the display of sexual behavior. Combined retrograde viral tracing and Egr1 immunodetection showed that a subset of the activated cells in the MeA are Aro + neurons projecting to the mPOA. These results highlight that social experience induces a differential neural activity in the circuitry controlling sexual behavior and aggression, which include MeA Aro + neurons projecting to the mPOA.

Disciplines :

Life sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others

Author, co-author :

Trives, Elliott ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences biomédicales et précliniques > Biologie de la différenciation sexuelle du cerveau ; Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, INRAE, CNRS, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France

Porte, Chantal; Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, INRAE, CNRS, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France

Nakahara, Thiago Seike; Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, INRAE, CNRS, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France

Keller, Matthieu; Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, INRAE, CNRS, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France

Vacher, Hélène; Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, INRAE, CNRS, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France

Chamero, Pablo; Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, INRAE, CNRS, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France. Electronic address: pablo.chamero-benito@inrae.fr

Language :

English

Title :

Social experience is associated with a differential role of aromatase neurons in sexual behavior and territorial aggression in male mice.

Publication date :

March 2025

Journal title :

Hormones and Behavior

ISSN :

0018-506X

eISSN :

1095-6867

Publisher :

Academic Press Inc., United States

Volume :

170

Pages :

105723

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0018506X25000492?httpAccept=text/xml

Funding text :

This work was supported by the Agence National de la Recherche (ANR) grant ANR-20-CE92-0003 (PC), and Region Centre Val de Loire project 201900134883 (PC). ET was supported by a grant from the INRAE and Region Centre Val de Loire.

Data Set :

https://doi.gin.g-node.org/10.12751/g-node.cs3tdm/

Available on ORBi :

since 04 April 2025

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