Progesterone receptor gene and protein expression in the anterior preoptic area and hypothalamus of defeminized rats.

Progesterone receptor (PR) plays an important role during sexual differentiation of the rat brain. The objective of the present study was to determine PR protein and gene expression pattern in preoptic-anterior hypothalamic area (POA-AHA) and hypothalamus (HYP), after estradiol or testosterone treatment during the postnatal critical period of sexual differentiation of the rat brain (defeminized animals). Three-day-old female rats were subcutaneously (s.