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Postpartum estrogen withdrawal impairs GABAergic inhibition and LTD induction in basolateral amygdala complex via

Rong Yang1, Baofeng Zhang2, Tingting Chen2

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 86025, China; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hangzhou First People׳s Hospital, Hangzhou 860571, China.

European Neuropsychopharmacology : the Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology
|June 17, 2017
PubMed

Postpartum estrogen (E2) withdrawal is known to be a particularly vulnerable time for depressive symptoms. In this study, ovariectomized (OVX) mice were treated with co-administration of estradiol benzoate and progesterone (E2/P4) followed by administration of E2 alone (E2) and a subsequent E2 withdrawal (EW) to mimic the hormonal changes during pregnancy and postpartum. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of E2 withdrawal after hormone-simulated pregnancy on synaptic function and plasticity in basolateral amygdala complex (BLA). In comparison to control mice, EW mice spent less time in the central portion of open-field test and open arms of elevated plus-maze. Excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) slopes at external capsule BLA synapse were reduced in E2/P4-mice, recovered in E2-mice, and increased in EW-mice. EW-mice showed a significant increase in duration of EPSPs and paired-pulse inhibition (PPI) with multi-spike responses of EPSPs and impairment of long-term depression (LTD) induction, which were corrected by GABAAR agonist muscimol. Levels of estrogen receptor (ER) GPR30, ERα and ERβ expression in BLA of EW-mice were lower than those in control mice. The bath-application of GPR30 agonist G-1 in BLA of EW-mice recovered the GABAAR-mediated inhibition and LTD indication, but ERβ agonist DPN or ERα agonist PPT could not. A single BLA-injection of G-1 rather than DPN or PPT in EW-mice could partially relieve the anxiety-like behaviors. The results indicate that postpartum E2 withdrawal causes dysfunction of GABAAR-mediated inhibition in the BLA through reducing GPR30 expression, which impairs LTD induction and causes anxiety-like behaviors.

Keywords:
E2 withdrawal (EW), basolateral amygdala complex (BLA)G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor 30 (GPR30)Hormone-simulated pregnancy (HSP)Postpartum depression (PPD)

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