Sex differences in the rodent medial prefrontal cortex - What Do and Don't we know?

Abstract

The prefrontal cortex, particularly its medial subregions (mPFC), mediates critical functions such as executive control, behavioral inhibition, and memory formation, with relevance for everyday functioning and psychopathology. Despite broad characterization of the mPFC in multiple model organisms, the extent to which mPFC structure and function vary according to an individual's sex is unclear - a knowledge gap that can be attributed to a historical bias for male subjects in neuroscience research. Recent efforts to consider sex as a biological variable in basic science highlight the great need to close this gap. Here we review the knowns and unknowns about how rodents categorized as male or female compare in mPFC neuroanatomy, pharmacology, as well as in aversive, appetitive, and goal- or habit-directed behaviors that recruit the mPFC. We propose that long-standing dogmatic concepts of mPFC structure and function may not remain supported when we move beyond male-only studies, and that empirical challenges to these dogmas are warranted. Additionally, we note some common pitfalls in this work. Most preclinical studies operationalize sex as a binary categorization, and while this approach has furthered the inclusion of non-male rodents it is not as such generalizable to what we know of sex as a multidimensional, dynamic variable. Exploration of sex variability may uncover both sex differences and sex similarities, but care must be taken in their interpretation. Including females in preclinical research needs to go beyond the investigation of sex differences, improving our knowledge of how this brain region and its subregions mediate behavior and health. This article is part of the Special Issue on "PFC circuit function in psychiatric disease and relevant models".

Keywords: Anterior cingulate cortex; Behavioral neuroscience; Infralimbic cortex; Medial prefrontal cortex; Neuroanatomy; Prelimbic cortex; Sex as a biological variable.