Fig. 4

Sex differences in gene expression depend on the estrous cycle. A Ptprt (top) and Htr2b (bottom) mRNA levels in the ventral hippocampus of diestrus females, proestrus females, and males (left; reproduced from [5]) as well as males and merged-females (right). B Density distribution plots of Ptprt gene expression for merged females compared to males (left) and males compared to females separated by estrous cycle stage (right). The degree of overlap between the distributions is given below each plot. Box plots (box, 1st–3rd quartile; horizontal line, median; whiskers, 1.5 × IQR); NS- not significant; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; one-way ANOVA with the Tukey’s post hoc test (left); Welch two-sample T-test (right). Die (light pink), diestrus; Pro (purple), proestrus; Female (red), mixed females; Male (blue), males. n = 8 animals/group