The Impact of Progesterone and Estrogen Withdrawal via a Hormone-simulated Pseudopregnancy Model on ΔFosB Expression in the Nucleus Accumbens and Anxiety- and Compulsive-like Behavior in Female Mice

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2022
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Bi-College (Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges). Neuroscience Program
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eng
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Open Access
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Throughout pregnancy, ovarian hormones fluctuate dramatically. The rapid decrease of estradiol and progesterone during birth specifically have been implicated in a variety of mood and anxiety disorders. The current study investigates the effects of hormone withdrawal on changes in anxiety-like and OCD-like behaviors by using an old and modified hormone simulated pseudopregnancy (HSP) model in C57Bl/6 adult female mice. These models involved ovariectomized mice and providing daily hormone injections of either estradiol or estradiol and progesterone to mimic the hormones produced during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Of the mice only receiving estradiol (n=16), they were split into two groups based on whether or not they continued to receive estradiol injections throughout the postpartum period. Similarly, the subjects receiving estradiol and progesterone were also split into two groups (n=14) based on whether or not they continued to receive estradiol and progesterone or not throughout the postpartum period. It was hypothesized that the animals that stopped receiving hormone injections in the postpartum period would display more anxious behavior in an open field test and elevated plus maze test. It was also predicted that these animals would display more compulsive-like behavior in a marble burying assay. Researchers examined ΔFosB, a marker of neural plasticity within the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a brain region implicated in mood and anxiety disorders, to determine correlations between the NAc, hormone fluctuations, and behavior. We hypothesized that we would see a correlation between increased anxiety and compulsive-like behavior in the hormone withdrawn mice with increased ΔFosB expression in the NAc. There was no significant impact of hormone withdrawal on behavioral assays, but there was a significant increase in ΔFosB expression in the NAc core of estradiol and progesterone sustained mice. There were also significant increases in locomotion in the groups receiving hormones throughout the postpartum period. Future research should focus on the role of ΔFosB expression in mood disorders related to the postpartum period using this new HSP model.
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