Roslyn Holly Fitch (1995) A Role for Ovarian Hormones in Sexual
. Psycoloquy: 6(05) Sex Brain (1)
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Psycoloquy 6(05): A Role for Ovarian Hormones in Sexual
A ROLE FOR OVARIAN HORMONES IN SEXUAL
DIFFERENTIATION OF THE BRAIN
Roslyn Holly Fitch
Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience
Rutgers University
197 University Ave.
Newark, NJ 07102
Victor H. Denenberg
Biobehavioral Sciences Graduate Degree Program
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269-4154
holly@axon.rutgers.edu
dberg@uconnvm.uconn.edu
Abstract
The role of endogenous hormones in differentiating the
sexes is an area of continuing research. The bulk of findings in
this field support the notion that mammalian sexual differentiation
is primarily mediated by androgens of testicular origin and that
the presence of these androgens in early life produces a "male"
brain. In contrast, the female brain is thought to develop via a
hormonal default mechanism, in the absence of androgen. Findings
are reviewed which show that ovarian hormones also play a
significant role in sexual differentiation, and that the process of
ovarian feminization has a considerably later sensitive period than
androgen-mediated masculinization.
Keywords
corpus callosum, development, estrogen, feminization,
ovaries, sensitive period.
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