Fig. 3

Schematic distribution of Cyp19a1⁺ cells and co-expression with cell markers. Overview of Cyp19a1⁺ cells in the male (A) and female (B) young adult limbic rat brain. The size of the circles is relative to the percentage of Cyp19a1⁺ cells in the ROI. In males the overall percentage was higher than in females with significant sex differences in the BNST, MPR, VMH, CA2/3, MeP and AHi. The lower panel gives an overview of the percentage of cells co-expressing Gad1 and Gad2 (turquoise), Slc17a7 and Slc17a6 (purple) and Slc1a1 (orange) together with Cyp19a1 in relation to all Cyp19a1⁺ cells in the ROI in males (C) and females (D). In most regions the majority of Cyp19a1⁺ cells were GABAergic (Gad1/2⁺) except for the AHi and PCo where the majority were glutamatergic (Slc17a7/6⁺). The size of some circles is exaggerated for visibility and therefore is not always proportional to the actual percentage (see Additional file 1: Table S2). Acb nucleus accumbens, AHi amygdalo-hippocampal nucleus, B/LA basal and lateral amygdaloid nuclei, BNST bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, MeP posterior medial amygdaloid nucleus, MPR medial preoptic region, PCo posterior cortical amygdaloid nucleus, VMH ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus