Fig. 5

Receptor autoradiography after estrogen treatment or withdrawal. Aspartate, AMPA, kainate, NMDA, and GABA_A binding sites were visualized by quantitative in vitro receptor autoradiography using D-[³H]aspartate, [³H]kainate, [³H]AMPA, [³H]MK-801 and [.³H]muscimol in frozen sections from ovariectomized female rats treated with vehicle (Ovx + V), with β-estradiol-3-benzoate (Ovx + E), or with β-estradiol-3-benzoate followed by withdrawal (Ovx + E/W). Specific radioligand binding in selected brain regions (superficial and deep cortical layers, in the striatum and in hippocampus (CA1, CA2, CA3) was assessed by measuring the optical density of the autoradiograms using a computerized image analysis system (Imaging Research, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada). No significant treatment effect was noted for any of the radioligands. Individual values for each rat (expressed as Relative Optical Densities) are shown, together with group means and SEMs (n = 6 per treatment group)