Estrogen-induced cell signaling in the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the rat preoptic area: potential involvement of cofilin in actin dynamics for cell migration

Yuko Wada-Kiyama; Chiaki Suzuki; Tomohiro Hamada; Dilip Rai; Ryoiti Kiyama; Makoto Kaneda; Yasuo Sakuma

doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2013.02.117

Estrogen-induced cell signaling in the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the rat preoptic area: potential involvement of cofilin in actin dynamics for cell migration

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2013 May 3;434(2):287-92. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2013.02.117. Epub 2013 Mar 26.

Authors

Yuko Wada-Kiyama¹, Chiaki Suzuki, Tomohiro Hamada, Dilip Rai, Ryoiti Kiyama, Makoto Kaneda, Yasuo Sakuma

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physiology, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo 113-8602, Japan. [email protected]

PMID: 23537649
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2013.02.117

Abstract

Estrogen is a key factor to induce the sexually dimorphic nucleus (SDN) in the preoptic area (POA) of the rat brain. Identification of estrogen-dependent signaling pathways at SDN in POA during the critical period is a prerequisite for elucidating the mechanism. In the present study, we treated female rats with/without 17β-estradiol (E2) at birth, designated as postnatal day 1 (P1), and prepared total RNA from brain slices containing SDN for DNA microarray analysis. Among the estrogen-responsive genes identified, protein kinase C-delta (PKC-δ) was significantly up-regulated by E2 at P5. We examined the downstream effectors of PKC-δ protein by Western blotting and found an E2-induced PKC-δ/Rac1/PAK1/LIMK1/cofilin pathway. In the pathway, E2 suppressed the phosphorylation (inactive form) of cofilin. This result was supported by immunohistochemistry, where the phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of cofilin occurred at SDN, which suggests that cell migration is a cue to create sexual dimorphism in POA.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Actins / metabolism*
Animals
Animals, Newborn
Blotting, Western
Cell Movement*
Cofilin 1 / genetics
Cofilin 1 / metabolism*
Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 / genetics
Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 / metabolism
Embryo, Mammalian / drug effects
Embryo, Mammalian / metabolism
Estradiol / pharmacology*
Female
Immunohistochemistry
Lim Kinases / genetics
Lim Kinases / metabolism
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
Phosphorylation
Pregnancy
Preoptic Area / drug effects*
Preoptic Area / embryology
Preoptic Area / metabolism
Protein Kinase C-delta / genetics
Protein Kinase C-delta / metabolism
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Sex Characteristics*
Signal Transduction
p21-Activated Kinases / genetics
p21-Activated Kinases / metabolism
rac1 GTP-Binding Protein / genetics
rac1 GTP-Binding Protein / metabolism

Substances

Actins
Cfl1 protein, rat
Cofilin 1
Estradiol
Prkcd protein, rat
Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5
Lim Kinases
Limk1 protein, rat
Pak1 protein, rat
p21-Activated Kinases
Protein Kinase C-delta
Cdk5 protein, rat
Rac1 protein, rat
rac1 GTP-Binding Protein