Developmental time course of estradiol, testosterone, and dihydrotestosterone levels in discrete regions of male and female rat brain.

ABSTRACT: The prevailing view of sexual differentiation of mammalian brain is that androgen synthesized in the fetal and neonatal testis and aromatized centrally during a perinatal sensitive period is the sole source of brain estradiol and the primary determinant of sex differences. Subregions of the diencephalon are among the most sexually dimorphic in the brain, and there are well-established sex differences in the amount of testosterone and estradiol measured in the hypothalamus and preoptic area during the perinatal period. We previously reported unexpectedly high estradiol in the hippocampus and cortex of both male and female newborn rat. This prompted a thorough investigation of the developmental profile of steroids in the rat brain using RIA to quantify the level of estradiol, testosterone, a

SUBMITTER: Konkle AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3033055 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature