Sex differences in transcriptome profiles in hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic nuclei of rats impacted by adolescent stress

In order to generate data worthy of translatability to known sex differences in human stress-induced maladies, adolescent male and female rats underwent chronic restraint stress (stress) or not (nonstress, control) from postnatal day (PD)32-PD44. Specific brain nuclei (PVN, VMH, ARC, BLA, CEA, CA1, CA3, DG, and OFC) were analyzed for genome-wide transcriptome using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). Global transcriptome profiles were generated, and genes differentially expressed (DE) due to stress were identified for each nuclear subregion listed. Canonical pathway analyses identified DE genes that are likely crucial for causing well-known stress-induced sex differences.