Sex effect on presenilins expression in post-natal rat brain

Presenilin 1 and presenilin 2 are widely expressed during brain development. Several mutations in these proteins have been associated with autosomal-domi- nant inherited forms of Alzheimer disease. Their ex- pression is regulated by various cellular and ex- tracellular factors, which change with age and sex. Both age and sex are key risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, but the issue of whether the expression of presenilins is influenced by the sex during early post- natal development of the brain has been poorly inves- tigated so far. In this study, we report that transcript levels of presenilins, and the subset of neurons ex- pressing these proteins in various brain areas of the developing post-natal brain are different in male and female rats, suggesting that their function(s) may contribute to sexual dimorphism in the brain, both at morphological and functional levels