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. 2014 Mar 11;9(3):e91151. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091151

Figure 2. Effect of gonadectomy and sex steroid replacement on dopamine metabolic enzyme and dopamine receptor mRNA expression in the dorsal striatum of adolescent male rats.

Figure 2

There was no effect of treatment group on mRNA expression of COMT (A) or MAOA (B). (C) DRD2 pan mRNA was increased by testosterone, DHT and 17β-estradiol replacement relative to the Intact group. (D) DRD2 short mRNA was increased relative to the Intact group by testosterone and DHT replacement but not by17β-estradiol replacement. (E) There was a trend for treatment group to change DRD2 long mRNA expression (F =  2.36, df  =  (4,65), p = 0.063). There were no statistically significant sex steroid-related changes in (F) DRD3 mRNA (F = 1.62, df  =  (4,65), p = 0.18) or (G) DRD1 mRNA (F = 2.10, df  =  (4,65), p = 0.015) (H) DRD5 mRNA expression was increased relative to the Intact group by Gdx, testosterone and DHT replacement but not by 17β-estradiol replacement. * denotes comparison with intact, * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, n = 12–16/group.