Scarlet Shiner NMDAR Abstract

The scarlet shiner brain size & function article is almost ready to go to the journal NeuroReport. The working title is, "Sexual Dimorphism in a Teleost Central Nervous System: Are Dominant Males Smarter?", by Stallsmith, Sosa, Sosa, Eguchi. One achievement was boiling down the original 300 word Abstract to 120 words (below). The text of the manuscript is still slightly too long, and we have 5 figures which might be overkill according to journal format. Amy is reviewing the manuscript, so we'll see if she has any further editing suggestions. Maybe we'll just toss it at the Editor and see if he likes it before we really step on it. Anyway, what follows is the:

ABSTRACT
The sexually dimorphic fish Lythrurus fasciolaris (scarlet shiner) is a seasonal breeder. Morphological and molecular changes in breeding season were examined in three regions of the brain: the cerebellum, optic tectum and telencephalon. Male brain mass relative to body mass is significantly more variable than female. Males have larger average volumes than females in these brain regions relative to total brain mass. The quantity and location of NMDA receptors in relation to sex and reproductive status was examined. Dominant males have a 3.5-fold higher expression of NMDARs than non-dominant males in all regions. Reproductive females exhibit a 2-fold higher expression than non-dominant males. In the cerebellum, females exhibit a 2-2.5-fold higher expression level. NMDARs undergo both temporal and sex-specific regulation.