Journal article
Sex-related differences in endogenous pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in the thalamic paraventricular nucleus: Implications for addiction neuroscience
Addiction neuroscience, v 5, p100058
Mar 2023
PMID: 36798694
Abstract
Males and females exhibit differences in motivated and affective behavior; however, the neural substrates underlying these differences remain poorly understood. In the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT), sex-related differences in neuronal activity have been identified in response to motivated behavior tasks and affective challenges. Within the PVT, the neuropeptide, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP), is highly expressed and is also involved in motivated and affective behavior. The purpose of this study was to compare the expression of PACAP mRNA and peptide in the PVT of males and females. Analysis with quantitative real-time PCR in mice revealed that females had significantly higher levels of PACAP mRNA than males in the whole PVT, but no differences in the neuropeptides enkephalin or corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) in this brain region. While in rats, females demonstrated a trend for greater gene expression than males in the anterior/middle and middle/posterior PVT, they again showed no differences in enkephalin or CRF. Analysis with immunofluorescent histochemistry revealed that female mice had significantly more PACAP-containing cells than males as a function of area throughout the PVT, and that female rats had significantly more PACAP-27 and PACAP-38-containing cells than males, both as a percentage of total cells and as a function of PVT area. For PACAP-27, this specifically occurred in the anterior PVT, and for PACAP-38, it occurred throughout the anterior, middle, and posterior PVT. These results suggest that sex-related differences in PVT PACAP may underly some of the established sex-related differences in motivated and affective behavior.
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10 citations in Scopus
Details
- Title
- Sex-related differences in endogenous pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in the thalamic paraventricular nucleus: Implications for addiction neuroscience
- Creators
- Genevieve R Curtis - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129, U.S.AAndrew T Gargiulo - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129, U.S.ABrody A Carpenter - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129, U.S.ABreanne E Pirino - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129, U.S.AAnnie Hawks - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129, U.S.ASierra A Coleman - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129, U.S.ANawal A Syed - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129, U.S.AAnuranita Gupta - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19129, U.S.AJessica R Barson - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Addiction neuroscience, v 5, p100058
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Grant note
- R01 AA028218 / NIAAA NIH HHS R00 AA021782 / NIAAA NIH HHS
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Neurobiology and Anatomy; College of Medicine; Drexel University
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85164479512
- Other Identifier
- 991020099493804721