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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Mar 30.
Published in final edited form as: Rev Neurosci. 2008;19(6):413–424. doi: 10.1515/revneuro.2008.19.6.413

Figure 4.

Figure 4

ER/mGluR signaling in the arcuate nucleus (ARH) — medial preoptic nucleus (MPN) circuit regulates female sexual receptivity. When circulating levels of estradiol are low, the circuit is not activated and the rat is not sexually receptive (first row). When circulating levels of estradiol are increased, ERs in the ARH are stimulated. A population of ERs, located on the plasma membrane, induces the release of β-endorphin in the MPN from ARH projection neurons activating and internalizing MOPs, producing lordosis (second row). If mGluR1a are activated in the presence of low circulating estradiol levels, the ARH-MPN projection is activated: MOPs are activated/internalized and lordosis is displayed (third row). Conversely, when mGluR1a are antagonized in the presence of high levels of circulating estrogen, the ARH-MPN circuit is not activated: MOPs are not internalized and lordosis is attenuated (forth row) (from (Micevych and Mermelstein, 2008)).