Fig. 4.

E2 and ER-specific agonists regulate TPH2 expression in the dorsal raphe of OVX rats. We measured TPH2 mRNA expression in rat dorsal raphe using real-time qPCR with 18S rRNA expression as an internal control from rats receiving ET 6 days post-OVX (A) and 180 days post-OVX (B). We detected the expression of TPH2 protein in dorsal raphe using SDS–PAGE probed for TPH2 after immunoprecipitation (C). We used whole cell lysate from TPH2-expressing SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells for positive controls. We used no primary antibody for the negative control in immunoprecipitation. We compared the optical density of TPH2 in rats receiving E2 6 d after OVX (D) or rats receiving E2, DPN or PPT 180 d after OVX (E). The data were analyzed using 1-way ANOVA and a subsequent Bonferroni post hoc test, and are presented as mean ± SEM; n = 6 for early ET, n = 4–8 for late ET. #p < 0.05 v. sham + V; *p < 0.05 v. OVX + V. Ab = antibody; ANOVA = analysis of variance; DPN = diarylpropionitrile; E2 = estradiol; ER = estrogen receptor; ET = estrogen therapy; OD = optical density; OVX = ovariectomy; PC = positive control; PPT = propylpyrazoletriol; qPCR = quantitative polymerase chain reaction; SDS–PAGE = sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; SEM = standard error of the mean; TPH2 = tryptophan hydroxylase 2; V = vehicle.