Oestrogens, a family of signalling hormones, are important for establishing sexual dimorphism during organogenesis. The role of oestrogens before sex differentiation, however, is less well understood. Now, Aya Takesono, Charles Tyler and colleagues employ a zebrafish oestrogen biosensor, together with chemical and genetic cell ablation techniques, to reveal the function of oestrogens during embryonic brain development. The authors show that cells in the olfactory bulb, termed EROBs, primarily respond to induced oestrogen signalling. EROBs increase in number throughout embryonic and larval development and express the astrocyte glial marker GFAP and the oestrogen-synthesising enzyme aromatase B. EROB projections interact with olfactory sensory neurons in olfactory glomeruli and EROB ablation affects glomeruli location and size. In addition, chemical inhibition of oestrogen signalling reduces the number of inhibitory synapses formed, indicating that oestrogen/EROBs are also required for establishing inhibitory synaptogenesis in the olfactory glomeruli. By imaging calcium sensor-expressing and EROB-deficient zebrafish, the researchers reveal that activation or inhibition of oestrogen signalling reduces or increases neuronal activity, respectively, in the olfactory bulb through EROBs. Finally, both inhibition and activation of oestrogen signalling affect odorant-response behaviour. This study provides evidence that oestrogens act on EROB glia to regulate olfactory circuits.
Sniffing out the role of oestrogens in brain development
Sniffing out the role of oestrogens in brain development. Development 1 January 2022; 149 (1): e149_e0103. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.