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The Journal of Neuroscience, March 25, 2009, 29(12):3808-3815; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5301-08.2009

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Gonadal Steroids Maintain 24 h Acetylcholine Release in the Hippocampus: Organizational and Activational Effects in Behaving Rats

Dai Mitsushima, Kenkichi Takase, Toshiya Funabashi, and Fukuko Kimura

Department of Physiology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, 236-0004 Yokohama, Japan

Correspondence should be addressed to Dai Mitsushima, Department of Physiology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-9 Fukuura Kanazawaku, 236-0004 Yokohama, Japan. Email: dm650314{at}med.yokohama-cu.ac.jp

Extracellular acetylcholine (ACh) levels in the dorsal hippocampus increases during learning or exploration, exhibiting a sex-specific 24 h release profile. To examine the activational effect of gonadal steroid hormones on the sex-specific ACh levels and its correlation with spontaneous locomotor activity, we observed these parameters simultaneously for 24 h. Gonadectomy severely attenuated the ACh levels, whereas the testosterone replacement in gonadectomized males or 17β-estradiol replacement in gonadectomized females successfully restored the levels. 17β-Estradiol-priming in gonadectomized males could not restore the ACh levels, and testosterone replacement in gonadectomized females failed to raise ACh levels to those seen in testosterone-primed gonadectomized males, revealing a sex-specific activational effect. Spontaneous locomotor activity was not changed in males by gonadectomy or the replacement of gonadal steroids, but 17β-estradiol enhanced the activity in gonadectomized females. Gonadectomy severely reduced the correlation between ACh release and activity levels, but the testosterone replacement in gonadectomized males or 17β-estradiol replacement in gonadectomized females successfully restored it. To further analyze the sex-specific effect of gonadal steroids, we examined the organizational effect of gonadal steroids on the ACh release in female rats. Neonatal testosterone or 17β-estradiol treatment not only increased the ACh levels but also altered them to resemble male-specific ACh release properties without affecting levels of spontaneous locomotor activity. We conclude that the activational effects of gonadal steroids maintaining the ACh levels and the high correlation with spontaneous locomotor activity are sex-specific, and that the organizational effects of gonadal steroids suggest estrogen receptor-mediated masculinization of the septo-hippocampal cholinergic system.

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Received Oct. 30, 2008; revised Jan. 5, 2009; accepted Feb. 17, 2009.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dai Mitsushima, Department of Physiology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-9 Fukuura Kanazawaku, 236-0004 Yokohama, Japan. Email: dm650314{at}med.yokohama-cu.ac.jp

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