Digital Commons Network^™

Age Impacts Perineuronal Net Density In The Somatosensory Genital Cortex Independently Of Gonadal Steroid Hormones, Ian D. Warren

Masters Theses

A hallmark of pubertal development is the rise in gonadal hormone secretions and the subsequent onset of sexual behavior. The size of the somatosensory genital cortex increases in response to both this rise in gonadal steroid hormones and sexual experience. However, whether specific markers of brain plasticity are similarly impacted by gonadal hormones during puberty is not known. Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are specialized extracellular matrix structures that unsheathe neurons as they mature, and their maturation coincides with the closure of sensitive periods across several sensory systems. PNNs in somatosensory cortex, as an example, respond to experience-dependent plasticity. Although experience-depended changes …