Effects of age and varying periods of E2 deprivation on RNAPII mRNA expression in the brain of young and aged female rats. RNAPII expression was measured in the (A) hypothalamus, (B) dorsal hippocampus, and (C) ventral hippocampus at 1 week after OVX in 3- and 18-month-old animals (n = 6/age per treatment group). RNAPII expression was also measured in the (D) hypothalamus, (E) dorsal hippocampus, and (F) ventral hippocampus at 1, 4, 8, and 12 weeks after OVX (n = 6–10/age per treatment group). Animals were treated with either vehicle (safflower oil) or 2.5-μg E2 (dissolved in safflower oil). *, statistically significant difference (P < .05) between groups; #, statistically significant difference within groups as determined by Tukey's honestly significant-difference test after two-way ANOVA. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM.