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Full-Text Articles in Neuroscience and Neurobiology
Sex Differences In The Brain: A Whole Body Perspective, Geert De Vries, Nancy Forger
Sex Differences In The Brain: A Whole Body Perspective, Geert De Vries, Nancy Forger
Neuroscience Institute Faculty Publications
Most writing on sexual differentiation of the mammalian brain (including our own) considers just two organs: the gonads and the brain. This perspective, which leaves out all other body parts, misleads us in several ways. First, there is accumulating evidence that all organs are sexually differentiated, and that sex differences in peripheral organs affect the brain. We demonstrate this by reviewing examples involving sex differences in muscles, adipose tissue, the liver, immune system, gut, kidneys, bladder, and placenta that affect the nervous system and behavior. The second consequence of ignoring other organs when considering neural sex differences is that we …
Sexual Differentiation Of The Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis In Humans May Extend Into Adulthood, Wilson C.J. Chung, Geert De Vries, Dick F. Swaab
Sexual Differentiation Of The Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis In Humans May Extend Into Adulthood, Wilson C.J. Chung, Geert De Vries, Dick F. Swaab
Neuroscience Institute Faculty Publications
Gonadal steroids have remarkable developmental effects on sex-dependent brain organization and behavior in animals. Presumably, fetal or neonatal gonadal steroids are also responsible for sexual differentiation of the human brain. A limbic structure of special interest in this regard is the sexually dimorphic central subdivision of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTc), because its size has been related to the gender identity disorder transsexuality. To determine at what age the BSTc becomes sexually dimorphic, the BSTc volume in males and females was studied from midgestation into adulthood. Using vasoactive intestinal polypeptide and somatostatin immunocytochemical staining as markers, we …