Participation of growth factor signal transduction pathways in estradiol facilitation of female reproductive behavior

Estradiol (E₂) regulates female reproductive behavior (lordosis) by acting on estrogen-sensitive neurons. We recently showed that E₂ facilitation of lordosis behavior requires concurrent activation of brain IGF-I receptors. The present study confirmed this finding and sought to identify the downstream signaling pathways involved in estrogen/IGF-I priming of lordosis. Intracerebroventricular infusions of a selective IGF-I receptor antagonist were administered to ovariectomized rats every 12 h beginning 1 h before the first of two daily E₂ injections. IGF-I receptor blockade partially inhibits lordosis if the antagonist is infused throughout the 2-d estrogen treatment period but not if it is administered only during the first or last 12 h of estrogen treatment. Because E₂ and IGF-I can activate phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and MAPK, we infused agents that block PI3K and/or MAPK activity as described above. Both PI3K inhibitors (wortmannin and LY294002) and MAPK inhibitors (PD98059 and U0126) partially attenuate lordosis when administered during estrogen priming. None of these drugs modifies lordosis if they are infused only once, during the last 12 h of estrogen treatment. When both wortmannin and PD98059 are infused during E ₂ priming, lordosis behavior is completely abolished. These data suggest that activation of both PI3K and MAPK by E₂ and IGF-I mediates hormonal facilitation of lordosis behavior.