Testosterone recruits new aromatase-imunoreactive cells in neonatal quail brain

It was shown earlier that, in Japanese quail the mechanism controlling the induction by testosterone of aromatase activity develops between embryonic days 10 and 14. The cellular processes underlying this activation have, however, not been investigated in detail. Here, we demonstrate that the increase in aromatase activity observed in neonates treated with testosterone propionate between postnatal days 1 and 3 results from the recruitment of additional populations of aromatase-immunoreactive cells that were not expressing the enzyme at detectable levels before. This recruitment concerns all brain nuclei normally expressing the enzyme even if it is more prominent in the ventromedial hypothalamus than in other nuclei.