Ovariectomy of Adult Rats Leads to Increased Expression of Astrocytic Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor in the Ventral Tegmental Area and in Dopaminergic Projection Regions of the Entorhinal and Prefrontal Cortex

摘要: Changes in astrocytic function may underlie the neurochemical and morphological alterations limbic cortical areas after estrogen loss adult females. We assessed whether increased expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), an response involved injury-induced neuronal plasticity, occurs ovariectomy. examined bFGF immunoreactivity (IR) ovariectomized rats with oil or estradiol benzoate (5 μg every 4 d; Experiment 1) intact animals (Experiment 2). In ventral tegmental area (VTA), bFGF-IR glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-IR were greater than replacement. VTA was dorsal raphe, no differences between groups found GFAP-IR bFGF-IR. mesolimbic dopaminergic target within entorhinal cortex (Ent), prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, higher Ent weeks surgery both experiments, but seen accumbens occipital cortical, control, either study. 2, small increases Ent, changes developed gradually, peaking at waning 40 weeks. Furthermore, dendritic arbor layer II/III pyramidal cells females use a modified Golgi–Cox staining procedure. These findings suggest that, specific regions, ovariectomy induces responses similar to those observed injury that affect chemistry morphology.