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Published (Version of record)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Skin exposure to UVB light induces a skin-brain-gonad axis and sexual behavior
Cell reports (Cambridge), Vol.36(8), 109579
24/Aug/2021
PMID: 34433056
Abstract
Ultraviolet (UV) light affects endocrinological and behavioral aspects of sexuality via an unknown mechanism. Here we discover that ultraviolet B (UVB) exposure enhances the levels of sex-steroid hormones and sexual behavior, which are mediated by the skin. In female mice, UVB exposure increases hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis hormone levels, resulting in larger ovaries; extends estrus days; and increases anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) expression. UVB exposure also enhances the sexual responsiveness and attractiveness of females and male-female interactions. Conditional knockout of p53 specifically in skin keratinocytes abolishes the effects of UVB. Thus, UVB triggers a skin-brain-gonadal axis through skin p53 activation. In humans, solar exposure enhances romantic passion in both genders and aggressiveness in men, as seen in analysis of individual questionaries, and positively correlates with testosterone level. Our findings suggest opportunities for treatment of sex-steroid-related dysfunctions.
Details
- Title
- Skin exposure to UVB light induces a skin-brain-gonad axis and sexual behavior
- Creators
- Roma Parikh - Tel Aviv UniversityEschar Sorek - Tel Aviv UniversityShivang Parikh - Tel Aviv UniversityKeren Michael - Max Stern Academic College of Emek YezreelLior Bikovski - Tel Aviv UniversitySagi Tshori - Research Authority, Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, IsraelGalit Shefer - Kaplan Medical CenterShira Mingelgreen - Kaplan Medical CenterTaiba Zornitzki - Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Disease Institute, Kaplan Medical Center, Hadassah School of Medicine, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Rehovot, IsraelHilla Knobler - Hadassah Medical CenterGabriel Chodick - 972WIS_INST___38ab5722-f8b7-43d3-b2f4-35c41cd2c427Mariya Mardamshina - Tel Aviv UniversityArjan Boonman - Tel Aviv UniversityNoga Kronfeld-Schor - School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, IsraelHadas Bar-Joseph - Tel Aviv UniversityDalit Ben-Yosef - Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical CenterHadar Amir - Tel Aviv UniversityMor Pavlovsky - Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical CenterHagit Matz - Tel Aviv UniversityTom Ben-Dov - Meir Medical CenterTamar Golan - Tel Aviv UniversityEran Nizri - Department of Dermatology, Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center, Tel Aviv 6423906, IsraelDaphna Liber - Ono Academic CollegeYair Liel - Ben-Gurion University of the NegevRonen Brenner - Wolfson Medical CenterYftach Gepner - Tel Aviv UniversityOrit Karnieli-Miller - Department of Medical Education, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, IsraelRina Hemi - Institute of Endocrinology, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, IsraelRuth Shalgi - Tel Aviv UniversityTali Kimchi - 972WIS_INST___123Ruth Percik - Sheba Medical CenterAron Weller - Department of Psychology and the Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, IsraelCarmit Levy (Corresponding Author) - Tel Aviv University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Cell reports (Cambridge), Vol.36(8), 109579; 24/Aug/2021
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Language
- English
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109579
- PMID
- 34433056
- Grant note
- The authors thank Prof. Eli Pikarsky (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) for the gift of the p53-floxed mice and Prof. Itai Ben-Porath for the gift of K14 CRE mice (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel). C.L. thanks Prof. Yossi Yovel (Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University) for providing the recording instrument and analysis and Prof. Uri Alon, Prof. Noam Sobel (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) for useful discussions, and Yuval and Omer Levy for infinite joy. C.L. acknowledges grant support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant 726225) and the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (grant 2017/20). R. Parikh is the recipient of a CBRC 2020 travel grant and 3rd Esther and Zvi Weinstat Graduate Student Award, 2021, and would like to thank her family for their love and support. Research in A.W.’s lab is supported in part by the ISF (grant 1781/16), Israel Ministry of Science and Technology (grants 3-13608 and 84/19), and EPM Inc. R. Parikh, conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing – original draft, and visualization. E.S., conceptualization and formal analysis. S.P., methodology and validation (human cohort study). K.M., D.L., and O.K.-M., formal analysis (human questionnaire). L.B. and A.W., methodology and resources. S.T., G.S., S.M., T.Z., H.K., and G.C., investigation and formal analysis (human testosterone data). M.M., formal analysis (mass spectrometry). A.B., resources (ultrasonic vocalization). N.K.-S., writing – review & editing. H.B.-J., formal analysis (ovary cross sections). D.B.-Y., H.A., and T.G., writing – review & editing. H.M. and M.P., resources (human questionnaire data from phototherapy clinic). Y.L., R.B., and E.N., visualization. Y.G., formal analysis (human epidemiological data). R.H., investigation. R.S., methodology and writing – review & editing (ovarian experiments). T.K., visualization (sexual behavioral data). R. Percik, investigation and writing – review & editing. C.L., conceptualization, methodology, writing – original draft, visualization, supervision, project administrat
- Record Identifier
- 993352740003596
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