Estrogen Modulation of the Pronociceptive Effects of Serotonin on Female Rat Trigeminal Sensory Neurons is Timing- and Dosage-Dependent and Requires Estrogen Receptor Alpha

Since estrogen is a major hormone involved in multiple gene expression pathways in the cell, we wanted to determine the corresponding changes in trigeminal ganglia transcriptome of the E2-treated rats. Adult ovariectomized female rats were subcutaneneously implanted with either 5% (physiological level comparable to diestrus; 15-20 pg/ml; one capsule), 20% (physiological level comparable to proestrus; 40-60 pg/ml; 2 capsules of 10%), 40% (supraphysiological level; 2 capsules of 20%) E2, or control (2 capsules of 100% cholesterol) capsules. One week after implantation, nocifensive behaviors were recorded and trigeminal ganglia tissue was extracted.雌激素（estrogen）是参与细胞内多种基因表达通路的关键激素，本研究旨在探究雌二醇（E2）处理大鼠的三叉神经节（trigeminal ganglia）转录组（transcriptome）的相应变化。选取成年去卵巢雌性大鼠，皮下植入不同配方的胶囊：分别为含5% E2（生理水平相当于动情间期，浓度15~20 pg/ml，1粒胶囊）、20% E2（生理水平相当于动情前期，浓度40~60 pg/ml，2粒10%浓度胶囊）、40% E2（超生理水平，2粒20%浓度胶囊），以及空白对照（2粒100%胆固醇胶囊）。植入一周后，记录大鼠的伤害感受性行为，并提取其三叉神经节组织。