A transcriptome dataset for gonadectomy-induced changes in rat spinal cord

Circulating sex steroid hormones are critical for neural function and development of neuroplasticity in many regions of the central nervous system. In the spinal cord, our knowledge of steroid hormone influence mostly derives from mechanistic studies of pain processing in dorsal spinal cord circuits; less is known regarding hormonal influence of ventral spinal motor function. Gonadectomy (surgical removal of the testes in males and ovaries in females) rapidly and persistently reduces circulating sex steroids in both females and males, providing a means to interrogate the role of hormones on neural function. Here we provide a next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data set to evaluate the impact of gonadectomy on the transcriptome of ventral spinal cord tissue of adult female and male rats.

Automated summary

Gonadectomy rapidly and persistently reduces circulating sex steroids, allowing for the interrogation of hormonal influence on neural function in ventral spinal cord tissue of adult rats using a next-generation RNA sequencing dataset.