ArticleFrontiers in molecular neuroscience2023
Minimal influence of estrous cycle on studies of female mouse behaviors.
Article in Frontiers in molecular neuroscience, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Not just neurons: glial mechanisms driving sex-specific vulnerability to withdrawal and relapse in substance use disorder.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2026Review
- The WAG/Rij Rat Model of Depression Comorbid with Absence Epilepsy: Sex Differences and Neurochemical Mechanisms.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Female rats adopt a safety-first strategy in a high-conflict platform mediated avoidance task.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Y-maze performance predicts refined motor learning in mice.PloS one · 2026Article
- High-Fat Diet Exacerbates Behavioral and Neurochemical Deficits in BTBR Mice: Linking Intestinal Inflammation and Brain Neurotransmitter Dysregulation to Melatonin Therapeutic Potential.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
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- Alpha-synuclein overexpression does not cause vocalization deficits in a mouse model of parkinsonism.Biology open · 2025Article
- Niacin Modulates SIRT1-Driven Signaling to Counteract Radiation-Induced Neurocognitive and Behavioral Impairments.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Disruption of the CRFeLife · 2025Article
- The influence of sex on activity in voluntary wheel running, forced treadmill running, and open field testing in mice.Physiological reports · 2025Article
- Real-time behavioral monitoring of C57BL/6J mice during reproductive cycle.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Advancing Post-Stroke Depression Research: Insights from Murine Models and Behavioral Analyses.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Plasma lipidomics in early APP/PS1 female mouse model and its relationship with brain: Is it affected by the estrous cycle?Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2024Article
- Increased gene dosage of RFWD2 causes autistic-like behaviors and aberrant synaptic formation and function in mice.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Sex bias has been an issue in many biomedical fields, especially in neuroscience. In rodent research, many scientists only focused on male animals due to the belief that female estrous cycle gives rise to unacceptable, high levels of variance in the experiments. However, even though female sexual behaviors are well known to be regulated by estrous cycle, which effects on other non-sexual behaviors were not always consistent in previous reports. Recent reviews analyzing published literature even suggested that there is no evidence for larger variation in female than male in several phenotypes. Methods: To further investigate the impact of estrous cycle on the variability of female behaviors, we conducted multiple behavioral assays, including the open field test, forced swimming test, and resident-intruder assay to assess anxiety-, depression-like behaviors, as well as social interaction respectively. We compared females in the estrus and diestrus stages across four different mouse strains: C57BL/6, BALB/c, C3H, and DBA/2. Results: Our results found no significant difference in most behavioral parameters between females in these two stages. On the other hand, the differences in behaviors among certain strains are relatively consistent in both stages, suggesting a very minimal effect of estrous cycle for detecting the behavioral difference. Last, we compared the behavioral variation between male and female and found very similar variations in most behaviors between the two sexes. Discussion: While our study successfully identified behavioral differences among strains and between the sexes, we did not find solid evidence to support the notion that female behaviors are influenced by the estrous cycle. Additionally, we observed similar levels of behavioral variability between males and females. Female mice, therefore, have no reason to be excluded in future behavioral research.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.