In 2001 the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences in the USA,
concluded that many aspects of both normal and pathological brain functioning exhibit …

Estradiol is the most potent and ubiquitous member of a class of steroid hormones called
estrogens. Fetuses and newborns are exposed to estradiol derived from their mother, their own …

In the twentieth century, the dominant model of sexual differentiation stated that genetic sex (XX
versus XY) causes differentiation of the gonads, which then secrete gonadal hormones …

Brain sexual differentiation in rodents results from the perinatal testicular androgen surge. In
the preoptic area (POA), estradiol aromatized from testosterone upregulates the production …

The developing mammalian brain is destined for a female phenotype unless exposed to
gonadal hormones during a perinatal sensitive period. It has been assumed that the …

For more than a century, clinical investigators have focused on early life as a source of adult
psychopathology. Early theories about psychic conflict and toxic parenting have been …

The oxytocin receptor (OTR) is differentially expressed in the CNS. Because there are multiple
mechanisms by which the OTR can be transcriptionally induced, we hypothesized that …

Epigenetic changes in the nervous system are emerging as a critical component of enduring
effects induced by early life experience, hormonal exposure, trauma and injury, or learning …

The established role of oxytocin (OT) in facilitation of steroid-modulated reproductive and
affiliative behaviors led to the speculation that it may have anxiolytic actions under certain …

Adult male sexual behavior in mammals requires the neuronal organizing effects of gonadal
steroids during a sensitive perinatal period. During development, estradiol differentiates the …