AR and Anxiety: To elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms mediating the elevated activity of mPOAGad2 neurons in CCS male mice, we examined the expression of sexually dimorphic genes that have been associated with anxiety or social behaviors in mPOA protein lysates: cholecystokinin A receptor (CCKAR), estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1), androgen receptor (AR) and calcitonin receptor (CALCR) [21,22,24,26].