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Updated: Oct 14, 2025

Hypothalamic Kisspeptin Neurons as a Target for Whole-Cell Patch-Clamp Recordings
Published on: March 17, 2023
Kisspeptin neurons as a key player bridging the endocrine system and sexual behavior in mammals
Sho Nakamura1, Youki Watanabe2, Teppei Goto3
1Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Okayama University of Science, Imabari, Ehime 794-8555, Japan.
Abstract:
Reproductive behaviors are sexually differentiated: for example, male rodents show mounting behavior, while females in estrus show lordosis behavior as sex-specific sexual behaviors. Kisspeptin neurons govern reproductive function via direct stimulation of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and subsequent gonadotropin release for gonadal steroidogenesis in mammals. First, we discuss the role of hypothalamic kisspeptin neurons as an indispensable regulator of sexual behavior by stimulating the synthesis of gonadal steroids, which exert "activational effects" on the behavior in adulthood. Second, we discuss the central role of kisspeptin neurons that are directly involved in neural circuits controlling sexual behavior in adulthood. We then focused on the role of perinatal hypothalamic kisspeptin neurons in the induction of perinatal testosterone secretion for its "organizational effects" on masculinization/defeminization of the male brain in rodents during a critical period. We subsequently concluded that kisspeptin neurons are key players in bridging the endocrine system and sexual behavior in mammals.
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