MECHANISM OF ACTION OF TESTOSTERONE IN A MOUSE MODEL OF SPONTANEOUS MOTONEURON DEGENERATION

LARA, AGUSTINA; MEYER, MARIA; GARAY, LAURA I.; LIMA, ANALIA; LEICAJ, MARÍA L.; GUENOOUN, RACHIDA; SCHUMACHER, MICHAEL; DE NICOLA, ALEJANDRO F.; GARGIULLO MONACHELLI, GISELLA; GONZALEZ DENISELLE, MARIA C.

Mar del Plata

Congreso; SAIC. SAI. SAFIS 2018; 2018

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica

The Wobbler mouse (WR) is an animal model of amyotrophic lat- eral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive disorder with selective loss of motoneurons, astrocytosis and microgliosis. Although the inci- dence of ALS is greater in men than in women, it increases after menopause. Therefore, sex steroids may play a key role in ALS. Testosterone, a complex steroid, can bind androgen (AR) or estro- gen (ER) receptors, membrane and sigma1 receptors (S1R). It is metabolized on two pathways: 1-aromatase converts androgens into estrogens and 2- 5-alpha reductase metabolizes testosterone into dihydrotestosterone. Here, we studied the effect of exogenous testosterone administered by 10mm silastic tubes s.c. for 2 months to male symptomatic WRs. In the cervical spinal cord (CSC) of tes- tosterone-treated WR ́s, we showed a reduction of AR (p