Figure 5.

Mean (±sem) number of Fos-ir cells present in the mPOA (A) and BNST (B) after exposure to either clean (black histograms) or male-soiled (gray histograms) bedding. Mice were treated on PN0–2 with either E2 or vehicle. The control group (black histograms) exposed to clean bedding had subjects from all three neonatal/sex conditions (n = 10). Adults exposed to male-soiled bedding included three groups: males treated with neonatal vehicle (n = 6), females similarly treated with vehicle (n = 5), and females given E2 from PN0–2 (n = 6). At the time of testing, all adults were gonadectomized and treated with an E2 implant to provide equivalent levels of activational hormone. *, Significantly different from the controls exposed to clean bedding (P < 0.05).