Programming effects of antenatal corticosteroids exposure in male sexual behavior

• Author(s): Oliveira, Mário ; Leão, Pedro ; Rodrigues, Ana João ; Pêgo, José M. ; Cerqueira, João ; Sousa, Nuno
• Date: 2011
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/18737
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Antenatal corticotherapy; Corticosteroids; Dopamine; Neurodevelopment; Sexual behavior
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

The authors would like to thank the Clinical Laboratory of Hospital de Braga for technical support. Introduction: Brain regions implicated in sexual behavior begin to differentiate in the last trimester of gestation. Antenatal therapy with corticosteroids is often used in clinical practice during this period to accelerate lung maturation in pre-term risk pregnancies. Clinical and animal studies highlighted major behavioral impairments induced later in life by these treatments, especially when synthetic corticosteroids are used. Aim: To evaluate the implications of acute prenatal treatment with natural versus synthetic corticosteroids on adult male rat sexual behavior and its neurochemical correlates. Methods: Twelve pregnant Wistar rats were injected with dexamethasone (DEX-1mg/kg), corticosterone (CORT-25mg/kg) or saline on late gestation (pregnancy days 18 and 19). Following this brief exposure to corticosteroids, we assessed the sexual behavior of the adult male progeny and subsequently correlated these behaviors with the levels of cathecolamines and mRNA of dopamine and androgen receptors (AR) in brain regions relevant for sexual behavior. Main Outcome Measures: Sexual behavior of adult male offspring was assessed by exposure to receptive females. This was correlated with serum testosterone levels and levels of cathecolamines (determined by HPLC) and dopamine and androgen receptors mRNA expression (real-time PCR) in brain regions implicated in sexual behavior. Results: Prenatal DEX exposure resulted in a decreased number and increased latency time to mounts and intromissions in adulthood. These findings correlated with decreased levels of serum testosterone and increased hypothalamic expression of AR mRNA. DEX animals also displayed lower dopamine levels and higher dopamine receptor mRNA expression both in hypothalamus and nucleus accumbens (NAcc). The milder phenotype of CORT animals was correlated only with decreased dopamine levels in NAcc. Conclusion: Antenatal corticotherapy programs adult male sexual behavior through changes in specific neuronal and endocrine mediators. Importantly, equipotent doses of corticosterone trigger less detrimental consequences than dexamethasone, emphasizing the differential impact of activation of the different corticosteroid receptors.