Sex Differences of µ-Opioid Receptor Expression in the Dorsal and Ventral Subcoeruleus Nuclei (2023)

Undergraduates: Abigail Leiviska, Makenna Vasquez, Madeline O'Reilly, Erica Oake

Faculty Advisor: Sabrina Robertson
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Neuropsychiatric disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, have a history of an increased incidence in females over males. The system that regulates how an individual responds to stress is modulated through the release of norepinephrine. One of the ways that the stress response is modulated is through the release and activation of µ-opioid receptors (MOR), an endogenous opioid receptor that is regulated in the locus coeruleus region of the brain. In order to determine how sex may contribute to the differences in stress-related disorders, immunohistological analysis was performed on coronal sections of transgenic mice brain tissue. The tissue was stained with primary and secondary antibodies tagged with fluorescent proteins in order to quantify MOR expression in both male and female mice. These findings indicate that MOR expression is lower in females, which is indicative of the higher incidence of psychiatric disorders in females.

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