Progesterone (Experiment 1) or pregnenolone (Experiment 2) treatments in Sprague-Dawley rats were performed from postnatal days 3 through 7. Castration in experiment 2 was performed in male rats at postnatal day 21. We measured the brain tissue contents of dopamine, serotonin (5-HT), and their metabolites in rats at age 10 weeks.
Results showed that neonatal progesterone treatment altered striatal 5-hydroxy-3-indolacetic acid/5-HT ratios in males and females in opposite directions, in addition to dopaminergic effects. The treatment also influenced dopamine and 5-HT metabolism without sex-specificity in the frontal cortex. In addition, there was no significant difference in striatal monoamine metabolism between sham-operated, castrated and castrated pregnenolone-treated group.
The present result indicates a sex-specific influence of progesterone during the early neonatal period on the development of the serotonergic system, depending on brain region in addition to of the dopaminergic system.