Cited by 193Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorSexual Differentiation and DisordersHypothalamic control of reproductive hormones

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 36 of the 36 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 1 of the 26 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Sex differences in the effects of testosterone and its metabolites on vasopressin messenger RNA levels in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis of rats

Open access
De Vries, GJ, Wang, Z, Bullock, NA, Numan, S·1994·The Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

Male rats have about two times as many steroid-responsive vasopressin- immunoreactive (AVP-ir) neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) as female rats. This sex difference does not depend on differences in circulating hormone levels, since it persists in males and females that are treated with similar levels of testosterone. To analyze the cellular basis of this sex difference, we compared the effects of testosterone and its metabolites on AVP mRNA expression in the BST of males and females that were gonadectomized at 3 months of age. When rats received implants of Silastic tubing filled with testosterone, males had more cells that were labeled for AVP mRNA and more labeling per cell than females. When, in a second experiment, rats received implants of either empty tubing, or tubing with dihydrotestosterone (DHT), estradiol (E), or E plus DHT, hardly any labeled cells were found in rats with empty implants. E treatment significantly stimulated AVP mRNA expression in both sexes, but significantly more so in males, which had more cells that were labeled for AVP mRNA and more labeling per cell than females. DHT treatment by itself did not stimulate AVP mRNA expression, but when given in combination with E, it significantly increased the number of cells over that of animals treated with E alone. This increase was seen in males only. However, in both sexes, it increased the labeling per cell over that of animals treated with E only, but more so in males than in females.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

In gonadectomized adult rats given similar testosterone implants, males had more vasopressin (AVP) mRNA-labeled cells and more labeling per cell in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) than females. Estradiol stimulated AVP mRNA in both sexes but more in males, and adding dihydrotestosterone increased labeled-cell number only in males, suggesting sex differences in estrogen and androgen responsiveness of individual AVP-producing BST cells.

Key findings

  • With similar testosterone implants, males had more BST cells labeled for AVP mRNA than females (ANOVA, F = 12.43, df = 1/11, p < 0.01) and more grains per labeled cell (ANOVA, F = 6.63, df = 1/11, p < 0.05).
  • In the metabolite experiment, overall males had more AVP mRNA-labeled cells than females (F = 16.98, df = 1/45, p < 0.0005), treatment affected labeled-cell number (F = 114.32, df = 3/45, p < 0.0001), and treatment effects differed by sex (F = 8.43, df = 3/45, p < 0.0001).
  • Estradiol (E) significantly stimulated AVP mRNA expression in both sexes, but E-treated males had significantly more labeled cells than E-treated females. DHT alone did not stimulate AVP mRNA expression; E+DHT increased labeled-cell number over E alone in males only.
  • Among E- and E+DHT-treated animals, males had more grains per labeled cell than females (F = 14.93, df = 1/23, p < 0.001), and E+DHT-treated rats had more grains per cell than E-treated rats (F = 6.46, df = 1/23, p < 0.05); the sex × treatment interaction for grains per cell did not reach significance (F = 3.82, df = 1/23, p = 0.063).

Methods

  • Adult male and female Long-Evans rats (80–90 d old) were gonadectomized and implanted with Silastic tubing. Experiment 1: 7 males and 6 females received testosterone implants. Experiment 2: rats received empty implants (7 males, 7 females), DHT (6 males, 6 females), estradiol (6 males, 8 females), or E+DHT (6 males, 7 females).
  • Animals were decapitated 4 weeks after implantation; brains were sectioned and processed for in situ hybridization for AVP mRNA in the BST, with labeled cells and grains counted under dark-field illumination by experimenters blind to specimen identity.
  • Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA (experiment 1) or three-way ANOVA (experiment 2) with sex and treatment as between-subject variables and side of brain as a repeated measure, followed by Newman-Keuls post hoc tests for significant interactions.

Limitations

  • The paper does not state a formal limitations section.
  • Stated in the text: in the suprachiasmatic, supraoptic, and paraventricular nuclei, labeled cells and grain density could not be determined accurately; and the sex × treatment interaction for grains per labeled cell in E- versus E+DHT-treated animals failed to reach significance (p = 0.063).
  • Evident from the text: group sizes were small (6–8 animals per group), hormone levels were not measured in this study but cited from prior implant characterizations, and grain analysis was restricted to E- and E+DHT-treated groups because empty- and DHT-treated animals had virtually no labeled cells.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1523/jneurosci.14-03-01789.1994

Cites

36 of 36 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

14 Own result · 9 No full text of the sources · 8 Own interpretation · 5 Own method · 4 Not checked yet · 2 Sources not found · 1 Partly supported · 1 No basis given · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 32 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 6
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 7
12 of 12
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The testosterone implants produced similar circulating testosterone levels in male and female rats.

    “implanted with Silastic tubing (2.5 cm long, 1.5 mm id., 2.4 mm o.d.) filled with testosterone, which previously yielded plasma testosterone levels of 2.4-3.6 &ml, which is in the physiological range for males (De Vries et al., 1984).”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The estradiol and DHT implants produced similar circulating hormone levels in male and female rats.

    “The dimensions of the Silastic tubing for E (1 cm long, 1 mm i.d., 2 mm o.d.) previously yielded plasma levels of 50-90 ne/ml E. which comnletelv suuuressed LH release in males, while the dim&sions used for DHT (3 cm, 1.5 mm and 2.4 mm o.d.) previously yielded plasma levels of 0.9-l .8rig/ml DHT, which fully restored the size of the seminal vesicles in castrated rats (De Vries et al., 1986).”
2 of 2

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Show all 35 references

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 193

Metadata

Authors
De Vries, G., Wang, Z., Bullock, N., & Numan, S.
Affiliations
University of Massachusetts Amherst (US)
Venue
The Journal of Neuroscience
Published
1994-03-01
Volume
14
Issue
3
Pages
1789-1794
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
OpenAlex
W2101036608
Cited by
193
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 9
FWCI
10.94
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion)
  • Digital Archive @ GSU (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • Counseling And Psychological Services Dissertations (Georgia State University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst (University of Massachusetts Amherst) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH RO1 MH47538)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Sexual Differentiation and Disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
Keywords
sex differences, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, estradiol, vasopressin, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, gonadectomy, rats
MeSH terms
Animals, Arginine Vasopressin, Castration, Drug Combinations, Estradiol, Female, Male, Rats, Inbred Strains, RNA, Messenger, Sex Characteristics, Dihydrotestosterone, Testosterone, Thalamus, Rats

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-12, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-12 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review