The molecular phenotype of kisspeptin neurons in the medial amygdala of female mice

Little is known about how Kiss1 cells in the medial amygdala (MeA) are regulated and what other gene transcripts are produced by MeA Kiss1 neurons. Estradiol upregulates Kiss1 expression in the medial amygdala (MeA), but it remains unknown if estradiol regulates other gene transcripts in MeA Kiss1 cells. The goal of this study is to identify novel gene transcripts produced by MeA Kiss1 cells and to determine how estradiol regulates the expression of these transcripts. We selectively isolated mRNA from Kiss1 cells in the MeA of female mice using Ribotag transgenic mice, immunoprecipitation, and RNA-seq. Over 13,000 gene transcripts produced by MeA Kiss1 cells were identified, but only 45 of these transcripts had expression levels altered by estradiol. Kiss1 cells were isolated from brain punches of the medial amygdala of female mice that were ovariectomized or ovariectomized + estradiol treatment.