LOCATION OF MEMBRANE PROGESTERONE RECEPTOR BETA IN RESPIRATORY NEURONS OF THE BRAINSTEM OF MALES AND FEMALES RATS AND EFFECTS OF HYPOXIA

• Grant number: 16/21730-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: February 01, 2017
• End date: January 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Kênia Cardoso Bícego
• Grantee: Danuzia Ambrozio Marques
• Supervisor: Vincent Joseph
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Laval, Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/04276-9 - Influence of sexual hormones in the ventilatory, thermal and central monoamines concentration in male and female rats, BP.DR

Abstract

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is more prevalent in adult men than in women and its occurrence increases after menopause, in line with several studies establishing that progesterone is a potent respiratory stimulant, that reduces the frequency of apnea in postmenopausal women. It is know that progesterone is synthetized in the ovaries of adult females, but also in the central and peripheral nervous system in males and females and that acts through nuclear (nPR) and membrane receptors (mPR) in the cell. The brain expresses mPRs, and a recent study from Dr. Joseph's laboratory,of Laval University, shows that reducing expression of mPR Beta increases 3 times the frequency of apnea in adult males and female mice (recorded during sleep), and reduced the ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia. However, the localization of mPR Beta in brain structures that contribute to the control of respiration is not fully described. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the localization of mPR Beta in the respiratory areas of the brainstem in male and female rats. We will verify if the neurons that express mPR Beta are activated by hypoxia and assess whether neurons that express mPR Beta also express Phox-2b, a transcription factor used as a marker of neurons involved in respiratory chemoreflex.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MARQUES, DANUZIA A.; GARGAGLIONI, LUCIANE H.; JOSEPH, VINCENT; BRETZNER, FREDERIC; BICEGO, KENIA C.; FOURNIER, STEPHANIE; KINKEAD, RICHARD. Impact of ovariectomy and CO2 inhalation on microglia morphology in select brainstem and hypothalamic areas regulating breathing in female rats. Brain Research, v. 1756, APR 1 2021. (19/09469-8, 16/21730-5)