Margaret M. McCarthy (1995) How About Sexually Differentiating Factors . Psycoloquy: 6(32) Sex Brain (7)
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Psycoloquy 6(32): How About Sexually Differentiating Factors

HOW ABOUT SEXUALLY DIFFERENTIATING FACTORS
OTHER THAN ESTROGEN?
Commentary on Fitch & Denenberg on Sex-Brain

Margaret M. McCarthy
Department of Physiology
University of Maryland School of Medicine
655 W. Baltimore St.
Baltimore, MD 21201

mmccarth@umabnet.ab.umd.edu

Abstract

Whereas the evidence of estrogen-mediated sexual differentiation is irrefutable, the strength of this evidence may have inadvertantly prejudiced researchers against looking to other factors in the differentiation process. Consideration of the role of progesterone, as well as additional non-steroidal ovarian secretions, may provide additional insights into mechanisms of sexual differentiation. Further consideration of non-ovarian factors, such as the potential role of genes involved in peripheral sexual differentiation and the influence of changes in afferent input, would be equally valuable in elucidating the mechanisms of sexual differentiation.

Keywords

corpus callosum, development, estrogen, feminization, ovaries, sensitive period.

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