What is it about?
Current dogma states that brain sex differentiation occurs around birth (in mice), when testis secrete testosterone that becomes converted to estrogen in male sexually dimorphic brain regions. Our findings are inconsistent with this dogma because we observe male brain sex differentiation early in gestation and presumably before the secretion of testosterone. Additionally, we find that prenatal exposure to estrogen or environmental levels of the xenoestrogen bisphenol A causes female brains to acquire male-like characteristics.
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Why is it important?
These findings show that our current appreciation for how brains acquire male or female patterning is incomplete, and demonstrate yet again the adverse effects of prenatal bisphenol A on developing brains.
Perspectives
I hope this article opens new thinking into the programs driving sex differentiation of male and female brains, especially in humans where our understanding is poor and does not necessarily align with the dogma established largely in mice. Additional studies are needed to appreciate how fetal brains know they are male if the testes are not yet matured and testosterone is not yet secreted.
Deborah Kurrasch
University of Calgary
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Hypothalamic vasopressin sex differentiation is observed by embryonic day 15 in mice and is disrupted by the xenoestrogen bisphenol A, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2313207121.
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