Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 100, Issue 8, Pages 4873-4878Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0636925100
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- NIDCD NIH HHS [DC00217, R01 DC000217] Funding Source: Medline
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In mammals and birds, sex differences in brain function and disease are thought to derive exclusively from sex differences in gonadal hormone secretions. For example, testosterone in male mammals acts during fetal and neonatal life to cause masculine neural development. However, male and female brain cells also differ in genetic sex; thus, sex chromosome genes acting within cells could contribute to sex differences in cell function. We analyzed the sexual phenotype of the brain of a rare gynandromorphic finch in which the right half of the brain was genetically male and the left half genetically female. The neural song circuit on the right had a more masculine phenotype than that on the left. Because both halves of the brain were exposed to a common gonadal hormone environment, the lateral differences indicate that the genetic sex of brain cells contributes to the process of sexual differentiation. Because both sides of the song circuit were more masculine than that of females, diffusible factors such as hormones of gonadal or neural origin also likely played a role in sexual differentiation.
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