Glutamate controls brain estrogen synthesis during sexual interactions

Besides their long-lasting effects mediated by a modulation of gene transcription, brain-derived estrogens can rapidly regulate (within minutes) reproductive behaviors. In vitro, the activity of aromatase (AA), the enzyme responsible for the conversion of androgens into estrogens, is also regulated on a similar short time-scale, via phosphorylation of the enzyme resulting from changes in neuronal activity or glutamate release. Acute changes in AA have been documented ex vivo in specific brain regions following exposure to social or stressful stimuli but the mechanism underlying these regulations is not known. To investigate whether glutamate is implicated in these rapid changes in AA, male quail received a unilateral injection of kainate in the medial preoptic nucleus (POM). The left and right preoptic areas were collected 20 min later and assayed separately by the tritiated water technique for AA. As shown previously in preoptic explants maintained in vitro, AA was downregulated in the kainate-injected hemisphere as compared to the non-injected side. To determine whether the decline in AA detected in the POM after a sexual interaction could be mediated by an increased release of glutamate in this region, extracellular glutamate concentration was measured by in vivo microdialysis with a probe implanted in the POM of sexually mature males. Dialysate was collected every 3 minutes over three periods of 15 min when the male was (1) alone, (2) allowed to freely copulate with a female and (3) alone again. A transient rise in extracellular glutamate concentration was observed specifically and immediately after the expression of cloacal contact movements, when semen is transferred to the female. Glutamate returned to a basal level after the female was removed. Together, these results indicate that the mechanism of acute regulation of aromatase activity by glutamate identified in vitro is potentially responsible for the acute regulation of the enzyme observed in vivo following copulation. As rapid changes in brain estrogen synthesis and its actions are apparently related to the control of sexual motivation rather than sexual performance, follow up experiments should now determine whether the release of glutamate in the POM occurs in parallel with an increase in motivation or follows the termination of the copulatory sequence.