Neuron soma size and density measurements in male and female adult rat nucleus accumbens shell, nucleus accumbens core, and caudate-putamen disaggregated by sex and estrous cycle phase

This dataset contains neuron soma size and density measurements from adult male and female rat striatal regions, including the nucleus accumbens shell, nucleus accumbens core, and caudate-putamen. The estrous cycle phase exhibited by the female rat was assessed, including the diestrus, proestrus, and estrus phases. Soma size and density properties across animals are presented in an analyzed format in a spreadsheet, as well as the individual calculations for each animal. Micrographs of Nissl-stained cells from each animal are also included in BMP format. These data provide the first measurements of striatal neuron soma size and density from adult gonad-intact animals and were key for revealing that the soma size of male neurons were bigger than female neurons in the nucleus accumbens shell., This dataset was collected using micrographs of nissl-stained striatal brain region tissue of adult male and female rats. The following brain regions were assessed: nucleus accumbens shell, nucleus accumbens core, and caudate-putamen. Striatal regions were assessed between 2.28-0.84 bregma. Counting box localization followed a previous study (Meitzen et al., 2011). For the CPu, the counting boxes were situated in the dorsomedial and dorsolateral portions. For the NAc core, the analyzed region encompassed both the medial and lateral areas adjacent to the anterior commissure. For the NAc shell, the region analyzed was medial to the lateral ventricle (commonly referred to as medial NAc shell). The nissl-stained neuron somas were analyzed to generate neuron soma size and density. These properties were then compared by striatal region, sex and female estrous cycle phase. More details can be found in the companion article, Dale et al., 2025, which is published in Brain Structure and Function ..., # Neuron soma size and density measurements in male and female adult rat nucleus accumbens shell, nucleus accumbens core, and caudate-putamen disaggregated by sex and estrous cycle phase

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.zkh1893nk](10.5061/dryad.zkh1893nk)

## Description of the data and file structure

ReadMe Document and data spreadsheets revised 6/24/25 by Nathan Dale and John Meitzen.

The Excel spreadsheet features neuron data of adult male and female wistar rats. Females were collected in different estrous cycle phases: diestrus, proestrus, and estrus cycle phases. Data collected was from the nucleus accumbens shell, nucleus accumbens core, and caudate-putamen, measuring soma size and density.

### Files and variables

There are two types of files within this data set. The Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, named “cell_data”, contains individual quantified measurements of neuron soma size and density in each animal and region. The second file type within this data set is labeled “Data.7z” an...,