The ontogeny of sex differences in estrogen-induced progesterone receptors in rat brain

The sex and age-related changes in the concentration of cytosol progesterone receptors (CPR) induced by estrogen (E) treatment in rat brain and pituitary were investigated by a modification of the Palkovits punch procedure using fresh tissue. Young male and female gonadectomized rats, 15, 21, 30, and 42 days of age, were treated for 44 h by a single sc injection of synthetic E. [Moxestrol (Ru2858)]. Adult gonadectomized animals were treated for 72 h by three injections of estradiol benzoate. Cytosol from pituitary and from punches of ventromedial nuclei (VMN), medial preoptic area (mPOA), arcuate nucleus (ARC), and cerebral cortex was labeled with 0.4 nM [3H]promegestrone (Ru5020) to maximize signal to noise and specificity of labeling of CPR. The developmental patterns of CPR differed across brain regions and between males and females. In VMN, females showed higher CPR levels after estrogen priming at 15, 21, and 42 days of age and in the adult; in ARC, females showed higher CPR levels after E priming at 15, 21, and 30 days of age, but not at 42 days or in the adult. In mPOA and pituitary, no consistent sex differences in CPR induction were found. Cortex showed no induction of CPR by E priming. Radioautography of [3H]Ru5020 uptake in VMN of E-primed 15-day-old male and female rats revealed significantly higher labeling in females, thus showing that the CPR levels in vitro reflect a difference in hormone retention in vivo. Female VMN contained more neurons with a higher labeling index than male VMN. Before puberty (approximately = 30 days), there was a decline in CPR levels induced by E priming in both sexes in pituitary, ARC, mPOA, and VMN. At 30 days, the female greater than male sex difference disappeared and tended to reverse in mPOA and VMN, only to be restored again by 42 days of age. Thus, the CPR induction by E priming may reflect underlying changes in E-sensitive brain regions associated with the preparation for puberty, as well as underlying sex differences in response to estrogen programmed by perinatal exposure to testosterone.