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ESTROGENIC PROGRAMMING OF THE MESOLIMBIC CIRCUIT DURING ADOLESCENCE
Alex Johnsonand 3 co-authors
Michigan State Universtity
FENS Forum 2026 (2026)
Barcelona, Spain
Board PS03-08AM-263
Presentation
Date TBA
Board: PS03-08AM-263
Event Information
Poster Board
PS03-08AM-263
Poster
View posterAbstract
Adolescence can be a particularly vulnerable period of time when significant changes in the organization of the nervous system take place. These changes include to the mesolimbic dopamine reward circuit, where during puberty, axons from cells in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) grow from the nucleus accumbens (NAc) to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This is the only example of long-distance axonal outgrowth specifically during adolescence and is believed to strengthen connectivity between subcortical limbic and executive control regions. Given the timing of this adolescent outgrowth of dopamine terminals, we examined whether the pubertal surge in estrogen in female rats would influence this process. To achieve this, we employed “remove” and “replace” experiments, wherein female rats (n=12/group) received either a sham surgery (group sham), ovariectomy (group OVX), or ovariectomy with subcutaneous estrogen pellet (group OVX + E). In addition, rats received a unique combination of Cre- and Flp-dependent AAV’s to label VTA neurons whose axons matured from the NAc to the mPFC in adolescence. Immunoreactive cells, fibers and varicosities were quantified using unbiased stereology to determine organizational changes in midbrain circuitry in the female rats. Furthermore, chemogenetic tools were used to determine the functionality of these cells in reward-related behaviors. These findings are discussed with respect to the importance of the organizational role of estrogen on mesocorticolimbic circuit development.
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