Gender Differences in the Neurobiology of Anxiety: Focus on Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis

Table 1

Differences between males and females with regard to AHN.

Model	Intervention/behavioral paradigm	Differences in AHN between males and females	Differences in anxious behavior between males and females	Differences in other types of behavior between males and females	Reference
PND70–90 Sprague-Dawley rats	Eyeblink conditioning	Twice more new cells (mainly neuroblasts) survived in the female than in the male hippocampus	—	Females learned to time the conditioned response faster than males	[63]
380 g (male) and 240 g (female) Wistar rats	Exposure to stressors	↑ proliferation in the DG of females compared to males; ↑ DCX in the DG of males compared to females	—	Females showed ↑ basal and stress-induced HPA axis activity compared to males	[87]
PND80–90 Sprague-Dawley rats	Treatment with E2 or sesame oil	↑ proliferation, ↓ cell death, and ↓ survival in the DG of females; males were affected minimally	—	Female rats froze less than males after contextual fear conditioning	[106]
PND80–90 Sprague-Dawley rats	Treatment with E2 benzoate	↓ survival, ↑ proliferation, ↓ cell death in the DG of females, and no effect in males	—	—	[80]
3-month-old Wistar rats	Chronic stress	↓ BrdU labelling in males, but ↑ in females	—	—	[82]
250–300 g Sprague-Dawley rats	Acute stress (exposure to a predator odor)	↓ proliferation, ↓ cell death in males but not in females	—	—	[95]
PND58–62 Sprague-Dawley rats	Spatial task	↑ BrdU-labeled cells in males, ↑ cell activation in females but not in males	—	Males performed better in the spatial but not cue task than females	[107]
2-3-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats	Acute stress	↓ proliferation in male hippocampus but not in female	—	Exposure to stress significantly ↓ learning ability in females but ↑ in males; males expressed more helplessness behavior than females	[94]
2-3-month-old Swiss CD1 mice	Treatment with MXC	↑ survival in males compared to females		Male mice exhibited ↓ contextual conditioned freezing compared to females	[91]
3-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats	PRS	↓ number of new neurons in the DG and ↑ BDNF levels in males but not in females	Males showed ↑ anxiety, while females displayed ↓ anxiety in the EPM	—	[93]
PND63–65; PND24–26 (peripubescent) Sprague-Dawley rats	Fluoxetine treatment	↑ cell proliferation in males but not in females; ↓ cell survival in females but not in males	—	—	[97]
C57Bl/6J mice	ES (limited nesting/bedding material)	↓ cell survival only in males	—	Males showed impaired cognitive performance in the ORT, OLT, and MWM, compared to females	[100]

AHN = adult hippocampal neurogenesis; BDNF = brain-derived neurotrophic factor; BrdU = bromodeoxyuridine; DG = dentate gyrus; DHT = dihydrotestosterone; DCX = doublecortin; EPM = elevated plus maze; ES = early life stress; E2 = estradiol; MXC = methoxychlor (organochlorine insecticide); PND = postnatal day; PRS = prenatal restraint stress; SVZ = subventricular zone; T = testosterone; ES = early life stress; ORT = object recognition task; OLT = object location task; MWM = Morris water maze.