Sexually Dimorphic Neurosteroid Synthesis Regulates Neuronal Activity in the Murine Brain

Sex steroid hormones act on hypothalamic kisspeptin neurons to regulate reproductive neural circuits in the brain. Kisspeptin neurons start to express estrogen receptors in utero, suggesting steroid hormone action on these cells early during development. Whether neurosteroids are locally produced in the embryonic brain and impinge onto kisspeptin/reproductive neural circuitry is not known. To address this question, we analyzed aromatase expression, a key enzyme in estrogen synthesis, in male and female mouse embryos. We identified an aromatase neuronal network comprising -6000 neurons in the hypothalamus and amygdala. By birth, this network has become sexually dimorphic in a cluster of aromatase neurons in the arcuate nucleus adjacent to kisspeptin neurons. We demonstrate that male arcuate aromatase neurons convert testosterone to estrogen to regulate kisspeptin neuron activity. We provide spatiotemporal information on aromatase neuronal network development and highlight a novel mechanism whereby aromatase neurons regulate the activity of distinct neuronal populations expressing estrogen receptors.