Metabolomic Sexual Dimorphism of the Mouse Brain is Predominantly Abolished by Gonadectomy with a Higher Impact on Females

The importance of sexual dimorphism the mouse brain metabolome was recently highlighted, in addition to a high regional specificity found between frontal cortex, cerebellum, and stem. To address origin this dimorphism, we performed gonadectomy on both sexes, followed by metabolomic study targeting 188 metabolites three regions. While sham controls, which underwent same surgical procedure without gonadectomy, reproduced previously identified, no sex difference identifiable after through univariate multivariate analyses. These experiments also made it possible identify responsible for 35 metabolites. female contributed more than 80% them. Our results show that gonads are main contributors observed, especially females.