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The Journal of Neuroscience, January 1, 2003, 23(1):230-239
Normal Female Sexual Development Requires Neuregulin-erbB
Receptor Signaling in Hypothalamic Astrocytes
Vincent
Prevot2, *,
Carlos
Rio1, *,
Gyeong J.
Cho2,
Alejandro
Lomniczi2,
Sabine
Heger2,
Craig M.
Neville3,
Nadia A.
Rosenthal3,
Sergio R.
Ojeda2, and
Gabriel
Corfas1
1 Division of Neuroscience, Children's Hospital,
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 2 Division of Neuroscience, Oregon Regional Primate
Research Center/Oregon Health Sciences University, Beaverton, Oregon
97006, and 3 Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts
General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129
The initiation of mammalian puberty requires the activation of
hypothalamic neurons secreting the neuropeptide luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH). It is thought that this activation is
caused by changes in trans-synaptic input to LHRH neurons. More
recently, it has been postulated that the pubertal increase in LHRH
secretion in female animals also requires neuron-glia signaling
mediated by growth factors of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family
and their astrocytic erbB receptors. Although it appears clear that
functional astrocytic erbB1 receptors are necessary for the timely
advent of puberty, the physiological contribution that erbB4 receptors
may make to this process has not been established. To address this
issue, we generated transgenic mice expressing a dominant-negative
erbB4 receptor (DN-erbB4) under the control of the GFAP promoter,
which targets transgene expression to astrocytes. DN-erbB4 expression
is most abundant in hypothalamic astrocytes, where it blocks the
ligand-dependent activation of glial erbB4 and erbB2 receptors, without
affecting erbB1 (EGF) receptor signaling. Mice carrying the transgene
exhibit delayed sexual maturation and a diminished reproductive
capacity in early adulthood. These abnormalities are related to a
deficiency in pituitary gonadotropin hormone secretion, caused by
impaired release of LHRH, the hypothalamic neuropeptide that controls
sexual development. In turn, the reduction in LHRH release is caused by
the inability of hypothalamic astrocytes to respond to neuregulin (NRG)
with production of prostaglandin E2, which in
wild-type animals mediates the stimulatory effect of astroglial erbB
receptor activation on neuronal LHRH release. Thus, neuron-astroglia
communication via NRG-erbB4/2 receptor signaling appears to be
essential for the timely unfolding of the developmental program by
which the brain controls mammalian sexual maturation.
Key words:
neuregulin; neuroendocrine; mammalian puberty; hypothalamus; astrocytes; neuron-glia interactions
*
V.P. and C.R. contributed equally to this work.
Copyright © 2003 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/03/231230-10$05.00/0
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