Fig. 4

The effect of gonadectomy on the morphology of Venus-expressing neurons in the dorsolateral BNST. a A diagram illustrating the cytoarchitecture of dorsal BNST subnuclei, on the right side of a coronal section of the anterior division of the BNST. An enlarged illustration on the right-hand side depicts the dorsolateral BNST in more detail. al, anterolateral BNST; ov, oval nucleus of the BNST; ad, anterodorsal BNST; LV, lateral ventricle; AC, anterior commissure; ic, internal capsule. b Comparison of Venus-expressing neurons in the dorsolateral BNST between gonadally intact- and gonadectomized mice. Venus-expressing neurons are stained with immunohistochemistry (brown-colored), and subsequently, Nissl staining was carried out using the same section to identify the subnuclei of the BNST. Venus-expressing neurons were stained more intensely not only in the soma but also in the fibers in proestrous female mice compared with intact males. AC, anterior commissure; ic, internal capsule; LV, lateral ventricle. Scale bar = 200 μm