[Abstract Title]. - Society for Neuroscience

castration to deplete circulating testosterone, the male hippocampal estradiol level was not
decreased, indicating that endogenously synthesized estradiol in male hippocampus plays an
essential role for rapid synaptic plasticity.
Disclosures: S. Kawato, Bioinformatics JST Japan, B. Research Grant (principal investigator,
collaborator or consultant and pending grants as well as grants already received); CREST JST
Japan, B. Research Grant (principal investigator, collaborator or consultant and pending grants as
well as grants already received); H. Mukai, None; G. Murakami, None; Y. Hojo, None; Y.
Hatanaka, None; S. Higo, None; T. Kimoto, None.
Poster
279. Steroids and Plasticity I
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 279.12/MM26
Topic: E.01.c. Steroids and plasticity
Support: NIH grant NS37562
Title: Increased mossy fiber BDNF expression and mossy fiber transmission in hippocampus
after gonadectomy in adult male rats
Authors: V. A. SKUCAS 1 , T. M. HINTZ 1 , S. BAROUK 1 , N. J. MACLUSKY 2 , *H. E.
SCHARFMAN 1,3 ;
1 CDR, Nathan Kline Inst., Orangeburg, NY; 2 Biomed. Sci., Univ. of Guelph, Guelph, ON,
Canada; 3 New York Univ., New York, NY
Abstract: Gonadal steroids have many effects in the CNS, and one that has attracted great
interest is the regulation of neuronal plasticity. In hippocampus, it appears that estrogen exerts
some of its effects on plasticity by increasing the expression of the neurotrophin BDNF (brainderived
neurotrophic factor). Little, however, is known about the potential for testosterone or its
metabolites to regulate BDNF in hippocampus. Of particular interest is the mossy fiber (MF)
pathway, because BDNF expression is most prominent in this pathway, relative to other areas of
hippocampus. Therefore, we asked whether BDNF expression would be altered, and whether MF
transmission would be influenced, when testosterone levels were dramatically reduced by
gonadectomy in adult male rats. Anesthetized rats were gonadectomized bilaterally or subject to
sham surgery at 4 or 8 weeks of age, and examined 1 or 8 weeks later. To study BDNF
expression, anesthetized rats were perfused using 2% paraformaldehyde, followed by 30%
sucrose postfixation, and brains were sectioned using a cryostat. Free-floating sections from each
experimental group were processed concurrently using an antibody to BDNF (Sigma,