Correlation of testosterone and neural receptor gene expression in male Japanese quail.

Abstract

Estrogen receptor (ER) and androgen receptors (AR) mediate different social and sexual behaviours. The impact of testosterone (T) on the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal-axis (HPG-axis) is well known. However less is known of the interaction of the ER and AR and their impact on the HPG-axis. This study tested correlations concerning the T, ER expression, AR expression, aromatase mRNA and testis mass in specific regions of the male “social behavioural network”, the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus (POM) and this nucleus Taeniae of the amygdala (TN). Statistically significant positive correlations of AR expression and ER expression in the medial preoptic nucleus and left nucleus Taeniae were found. Although the outcome of these correlations gives no evidence for a causality of sexual behaviour, it does broaden the knowledge of the effect of the interplay of T and the receptor expression on the HPG-axis.