Dendritic spine density of posterodorsal medial amygdala neurons can be affected by gonadectomy and sex steroid manipulations in adult rats: A Golgi study

The posterodorsal medial amygdala (MePD) is a sex steroid-responsive area in the rat brain. The dendritic spine density of Golgi-impregnated MePD neurons were studied in: (1) adult gonadectomized (GDX) males after a short or a longer postcastration period (8 and 90 days, respectively), compared to age-matched sham operated and to intact controls; (2) adult GDX females, which received oil, estradiol benzoate (EB) alone or EB and progesterone as substitutive therapy; and, (3) EB-treated GDX females that concomitantly received saline or LY235959, a competitive antagonist of NMDA receptors, to test a possible glutamatergic mediation on the estrogen-mediated increase in spine density in this brain area. Intact males showed a higher spine density than males studied 8 days after sham operation or those in both short- and long-term GDX groups (p < 0.02), but not when compared to males at 90 days after sham operation (p = 0.12). In females, dendritic spine density increased following EB injections when compared to the oil group (p = 0.05), with an effect that was potentiated by progesterone (p < 0.01). LY235959 was not able to block the stimulating effect of EB on dendritic spines of GDX females (p > 0.2). These data provide novel evidence that MePD dendritic spines are affected by sex steroid manipulations in adult rats, GDX males had a specific spine density decrease after a long postcastration period, and estrogen (apparently independently of a NMDA receptor interaction) and progesterone have stimulatory effects on the number of dendritic spines in GDX females.