Articles
Gender Differences in Brain and Behavior: Hormonal and Neural Bases

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0091-3057(99)00167-7Get rights and content

Abstract

This article briefly discusses the difficulties in determining the brain–behavior relationship and reviews the literature on some potential mechanisms underlying gender differences in behavioral responses. Mechanisms that are discussed include genetic effects, organizational effects of gonadal hormones, genomic actions of steroids, nongenomic effects of steroids, and environmental influences. The review is an introduction to the articles presented in this special volume on gender differences in brain and behavior.

Section snippets

Considerations in the assessment of gender differences

Experimental methods aimed at investigating sex differences use a variety of approaches including gonadectomy followed by hormone replacement, correlational studies, lesion experiments, pharmacological challenges, and assessment of fluctuations over the reproductive cycle. In general, however, complex responses fail to show sex differences that are clearly eliminated by gonadectomy in adulthood and reinstated by gonadal hormone treatments [e.g., see Rivier, this volume, (123)]. Further,

Gender differences and development

One of the fundamental differences between the mammalian sexes is the expression of genes on the Y chromosome, whose protein products promote differentiation of the primordial gonads in the testes in the fetal male (106). This, in turn, gives rise to developmental hormonal events that result in male development. However, there is some evidence that there may be other chromosomal/genetic events that are independent of the testes that also result in male differentiation. For example, in some

Genomic Actions of Steroids in Adults

The administration of steroid hormones to adult rodents elicits behavior patterns that are dependent, to a great extent, on the earlier, sex-specific organizing effects that those hormones had on the neonatal brain. Activational effects of hormones during adulthood can depend on mechanisms involving classic intracellular estrogen, androgen, or progestin receptors that subsequently modify gene expression and ultimately behavior 90, 131. These genomic actions of steroids might underlie the

Gender differences and the environment

Sex differences in animals and humans are shaped not only by biological contributions but also by environmental pressures and experiences. For example, in rats, gerbils, and ferrets, the dams provide more anogenital stimulation to male offspring than to female offspring in the first several postnatal weeks (99). Such stimulation is critical for both sexes in the development of urination and fecal elimination. In addition, the anogenital stimulation provided by mothers to male offspring aids in

Conclusions

In summary, there is a great amount of literature describing gender differences in the brain and behavior, and multiple mechanisms by which gender differences are induced and measured. The articles in this volume continue the exploration of gender differences in the brain and behavior. It is increasingly important that both genders be included in animal and human research, and that gender-based research contribute to the understanding that sex differences in structure, function, and behavior

Acknowledgements

The work in this article and the meeting on “Gender Differences in Brain and Behavior” held June, 1999, in Nancy, France, from which many of the articles in this volume were derived, were supported by NIH R13 DA12406, and NIDA, and NINDS to M. A. Wilson and the Lilly Center for Women's Health (Eli Lilly and Co.).

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