Premium
Neural androgen receptor overexpression affects cell number in the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus
Author(s) -
Coome L. A.,
SwiftGallant A.,
Ramzan F.,
Melhuish Beaupre L.,
Brkic T.,
Monks D. A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of neuroendocrinology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1365-2826
pISSN - 0953-8194
DOI - 10.1111/jne.12515
Subject(s) - bulbocavernosus reflex , androgen receptor , medicine , biology , androgen , endocrinology , receptor , nucleus , microbiology and biotechnology , neuroscience , spinal cord , hormone , prostate cancer , cancer
The spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus ( SNB ) is a sexually dimorphic neuromuscular system in which the masculinisation of cell number is assumed to depend on the action of perinatal androgen in non‐neural targets, whereas the masculinisation of cell size is assumed to depend primarily on the action of adult androgen on SNB cells themselves. To test these hypotheses, we characterised the SNB of Cre/loxP transgenic mice that overexpress androgen receptor ( AR ) throughout the body ( CMV ‐ AR ) or in neural tissue only (Nestin‐ AR ). Additionally, we examined the effects of androgen manipulation in male mutants and wild‐type (WT) controls. We reproduced the expected sex differences in both motoneurone number and size, as well as the expected adult androgen dependence of SNB size. We found effects of genotype such that both Nestin‐ AR and CMV ‐ AR have more SNB motoneurones than WT littermates and also that CMV ‐ AR females have larger SNB motoneurones than Nes‐ AR or WT females. These results raise the possibility that AR can act in neurones and/or glia to rescue SNB motoneurones, as well as on non‐neural AR to increase SNB cell size.