Fig. 5: MSEW alters serum and vHIP progesterone and allopregnanolone concentrations. | Nature Communications

Fig. 5: MSEW alters serum and vHIP progesterone and allopregnanolone concentrations.

From: The estrous cycle modulates early-life adversity effects on mouse avoidance behavior through progesterone signaling

Fig. 5

a, b Timeline and schematic of experiment. c Control and MSEW mice have higher serum progesterone in diestrus than estrus (F1,21 = 15.78, p = 0.0007; Control: Estrus n = 7, Diestrus n = 7; MSEW: Estrus n = 6, Diestrus n = 5). d MSEW mice have lower serum allopregnanolone than diestrus controls (F1,22 = 10.49, p = 0.0038; Control-MSEW Diestrus p = 0.0064; Control: Estrus n = 7, Diestrus n = 7; MSEW: Estrus n = 6, Diestrus n = 5). e MSEW mice have higher vHIP progesterone than controls in diestrus (F1,21 = 8.846, p = 0.0072; Control-MSEW Diestrus p = 0.024; Control: Estrus n = 7, Diestrus n = 7; MSEW: Estrus n = 6, Diestrus n = 5). f Controls have higher vHIP allopregnanolone than diestrus MSEW mice (F1,21 = 6.320, p = 0.0202, Control-MSEW Diestrus p = 0.0250; Control: Estrus n = 8, Diestrus n = 6; MSEW: Estrus n = 6, Diestrus n = 5). g vCA1 SRD5A1 labeling. h Diestrus MSEW mice exhibit lower SRD5A1 than controls (t14 = 2.162, p = 0.0484; Control n = 8, MSEW n = 8). i vCA1 SRD5A2 labeling. j No difference in vCA1 SRD5A2 (Control n = 8, MSEW n = 8). k Systemic drug administration timeline. Asoprisnil promotes control-like open arm percent time (F2,44 = 13.00, p < 0.0001; Vehicle-Asoprisnil MSEW p = 0.0167) l, open arm entries (F2,44 = 18.82, p < 0.0001; Vehicle-Asoprisnil MSEW p < 0.0001) m, and grooming (F2,26 = 4.086, p = 0.0286; Control-MSEW Asoprisnil p = 0.9820) n in MSEW mice (Control n = 10, MSEW n = 14). Sepranolone promotes MSEW-like open arm entries (Vehicle-Sepranolone Control p = 0.0029) m and grooming (Vehicle-Sepranolone Control p = 0.0044) n in control mice (Control n = 10, MSEW n = 14). o Cannula infusion timeline. vCA1 infusion of asoprisnil promotes control-like percent open arm time (F2,44 = 18.26, p < 0.0001; Vehicle-Asoprisnil MSEW p = 0.0003) p, open arm entries (F2,41 = 9.405, p = 0.0009; Vehicle-Asoprisnil MSEW p = 0.0425) q, and grooming (F2,42 = 14.35, p < 0.0001; Vehicle-Asoprisnil MSEW p = 0.0014) r in MSEW mice. Sepranolone infusion promotes MSEW-like percent open arm time (Vehicle-Sepranolone Control p = 0.0005) p, open arm entries (Vehicle-Sepranolone Control p = 0.0016) q, and grooming (Vehicle-Sepranolone Control p = 0.0022) r in controls (Control n = 13, MSEW n = 10). ALLO = allopregnanolone; Arb. units = arbitrary units; EPM = elevated plus maze; MSEW = maternal separation early weaning; OF = open field; SRD5A1 = steroid 5α-reductase I; SRD5A2 = steroid 5α-reductase 2; vCA1 = ventral CA1; vHIP = ventral hippocampus. *p < 0.05, two-way ANOVA followed by Šidák tests (c, d, e, f); two-tailed unpaired t-test (h, j); two-way repeated measures ANOVA with Šidák tests (l, m, n, p, q, r). Data are presented as mean values + SEM (c-f, j, j, l-n, p-r). Scale bars: 100 μm (a, c, e, g). Images in b, k, o were created using BioRender.com. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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