summary: Pregnancy and breastfeeding cause major physiological changes, including changes in body temperature and environmental preferences. Researchers now find that postpartum female mice are driven by brain changes and prefer a cooler environment.
These changes include specific neuronal groups in the viewing region (POA) that express estrogen receptor alpha (ERα). Postnatal mice showed reduced warm sensitivity and increased cold sensitivity of these neurons, which helped explain new heat preferences.
Important facts:
- Temperature shift: Postnatal mice preferred a cool environment for at least 4 weeks after weaning.
- Identified brain mechanisms: This shift was associated with reduced activity of ERα-expressing neurons in the pre-imaging region.
- The impact of reproductive experience: Deletion of estrogen receptors in these neurons in virgin women mimicked postnatal behavior.
sauce: Baylor Medical University
Mothers experience major metabolic adaptations during pregnancy and breastfeeding, supporting the development and growth of new lives. Many metabolic changes have been studied, but preferences for temperature regulation and environmental temperature during and after pregnancy are poorly understood.
Researchers from Baylor College of Medding and Collaboration Institutions will be shown in the journal Molecular metabolism Postnatal female mice develop new ambient temperature preferences and reveal brain changes that mediate these changes.
“In both humans and mice, body temperatures rise early in pregnancy, lowered to normal temperatures in the late pregnancy, and then again during breastfeeding,” said Dr. Chunmei Wang, assistant professor of pediatrics at USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center in Baylor.
In this study, Wang and her colleagues investigated what changes occurred in the brain mediating new temperature preferences.
“We worked with mice to discover that female mice prefer a cool environment that starts late in pregnancy and lasts for a long period of time after birth,” Wang said.
“For more than four weeks after weaning, female mice have low temperatures and prefer environments. °C/86°F) But still avoided cold environments (15°C/59°F). ”
To identify the biological basis of these changes, researchers have studied the imaging region (POA), a brain region that is important for sensing and regulating body temperature.
“We found that changes in temperature preferences in postnatal female mice are associated with a significant reduction in neurons, estrogen receptor alpha (ERα)-expressing neurons, a specific group of neurons in the brain’s visual acuity region (ERα).poa Neurons)” said the king.
In support of this finding, researchers discovered a virgin female and female note in which the estrogen receptor alpha was removed with ERα.poa Neurons also preferred cold temperatures, avoided warm places, and mimicked postnatal women.
I often look at ERαpoa Neurons, researchers have found that these neurons have different abilities to sense temperature or cold temperatures.poa Neurons can respond directly to warmth, while another group responds to cool temperatures.
“Interestingly, compared to female mice that were not pregnant, ERα.poa “Neurons in postpartum women showed reduced response to warmth and increased response to cold,” Wang said.
Together, the results support the ability of ERαpoa Neurons that feel warm and cold are regulated by reproductive experiences, leading to changes in temperature preferences that change the animal’s warmth-seeking behavior.
Currently, researchers are investigating the function of each group of ERα.poa Neurons related to regulatory body temperature and thermal preferences.
Other contributors to this work include Nan Chang, Meng Yu, Qianru Zhao, Bin Feng, Yue Deng, Jonathan C. Bean, Qingdao P. Yi-Pen, Yang HE, Christine M. Condi, Haian Liu, Yongji Yang, Longlong Tu, Manzi Wang Yang Yang, Jung-in-Han, Threat of Dara Avenue, Nathan XU, Taylor Smiley, Ping Wen XU, Lulu Chen, and co-authors Tianshu Zeng and Yanlin He. The authors are affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine College, the University of Science and Technology, National Center for Clinical Medicine in Metabolic Diseases, Louisiana State University, Southern Minds University, and Hu Era Faculty at the University of Illinois, and one or more of the following institutions:
Funding: This work was supported by grants from USDA/CRIS (3092-51000-062-04(b)s), in-house funding for the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
About this neuroscience research news
author: Taylor Burns
sauce: Baylor Medical University
contact: Taylor Burns – Baylor University of Medicine
image: This image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Open access.
“Changes in thermal preferences by estrogen receptor alphaneurons in postnatal female vision syndromes.“Chunmei Wang et al. Molecular metabolism
Abstract
Changes in thermal preferences by estrogen receptor alphaneurons in postnatal female vision syndromes.
Objective
The purpose of this study is to investigate how reproductive experiences in female mice (re)respective of heat preference and thermoregulation, focusing on estrogen receptor alpha (ERα)-expressing neurons (POAs).
method
Thermal preference and temperature were measured in female mice with or without RE and virgin female mice with selective deletion of ERα from POA (ERα)poa-ko). Number and activity of ERα-expressing POA neurons (ERα)poa) was assessed using immunohistochemistry and in vitro electrophysiology, depending on temperature changes and ERα agonists.
result
Female mice showed preferring a long-term postnatal environment starting late in pregnancy. Female mice with RE (4 weeks > 4 weeks after weaning) had lower body temperatures, lower heat preferences, and lost preference for warm environments (30°C) but maintained a cold environment avoidance (15°C).
This was associated with a significant decrease in the number of ERαpoa Neurons. Importantly, virgin women ERαpoa-KO mice showed lower thermal preference temperatures, impairing warm preferences, and mimicked remouths. Furthermore, we discovered that clear ERαpoa The subpopulation is regulated by temperature changes with or without presynaptic blockers, and by ERα agonists.
More importantly, RE reduced the number of warm activated ERαpoa Cold activated ERα, reduced the excitatory effects of warmth and estrogen-era signaling and reduced neuronspoa Neurons were slightly enhanced in female RE mice.
Conclusion
Our results support the thermosensory ability and estrogen effects of ERα.poa Neurons are regulated by reproductive experience and alter heat preferences.
