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Gonadectomy before puberty increases the number of neurons and glia in the medial prefrontal cortex of female, but not male, rats
Author(s) -
Koss Wendy A.,
Lloyd Madeline M.,
Sadowski Renee N.,
Wise Leslie M.,
Juraska Janice M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21290
Subject(s) - prefrontal cortex , psychology , neuroscience , developmental psychology , endocrinology , biology , cognition
ABSTRACT The human prefrontal cortex, important for executive functions, loses gray matter throughout the adolescent period. In rats, our laboratory demonstrated that a loss of neurons between adolescence and adulthood partially underlies the loss of volume, and this loss is greater in females than males. Here, we examine whether being deprived of gonadal hormones before puberty through adulthood influences the number of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Prior to puberty, the testes or ovaries were removed in male and female rats. In adulthood, the number of neurons and glia in the mPFC were quantified using unbiased stereology, and the volume of the frontal white matter was measured. Prepubertal ovariectomy resulted in a higher number of neurons and glia and a larger volume of white matter compared to sham control littermates. Castrated males were not different from sham males on any measure. Thus ovarian hormones secreted after puberty influence the cellular composition of the medial prefrontal cortex. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc . Dev Psychobiol 57: 305–312, 2015.