4.2 Article

A conceptual framework for understanding sexual differentiation of the teleost brain

Journal

GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY
Volume 284, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2019.02.020

Keywords

Brain; Sexual differentiation; Sexual lability; Sex steroid; Sex steroid receptor; Teleost

Funding

  1. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) in Japan [17H06429]
  2. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) [16H04979]
  3. Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [16H04979, 17H06429] Funding Source: KAKEN

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Vertebrate brains are sexually differentiated, giving rise to differences in various physiological and behavioral phenotypes between the sexes. In developing mammals and birds, the neural substrate underlying sex-dependent physiology and behavior undergoes an irreversible process of sexual differentiation due to the effects of perinatal gonadal steroids and sex chromosome complement. The differentiated neural substrate is then activated in the adult by the sex-specific steroid milieu to facilitate the expression of sex-typical phenotypes. However, this well established concept does not hold for teleost fish, whose sexual phenotypes (behavioral or otherwise) are highly labile throughout life and can be reversed even in adulthood. Indeed, the available evidence suggests that, in teleosts, neither gonadal steroids early in development nor the sex chromosome complement contribute much to brain sexual differentiation; instead, steroids in adulthood serve to both differentiate the neural substrate and activate it to elicit sex-typical phenotypes in a transient and reversible manner. Evidence further suggests that marked sexual dimorphisms and adult steroid-dependent lability in the neural expression of sex steroid receptors constitute the primary molecular basis for sexual differentiation and lability of the teleost brain. The consequent sexually dimorphic but reversible steroid sensitivity in response to the adult steroid milieu may enable the teleost brain to maintain lifelong sexual lability and to undergo phenotypic sex reversal.

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