Effect of prenatal androgens on gender development

Current Opinion in Endocrinology and Diabetes

Volumn 11, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 9-12

  Lee, Peter A ^a   Kerrigan, James R ^a  

^a PENN STATE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE   (United States)

Author keywords

Central nervous system differentiation; Fetal androgen exposure; Gender identity; Gender role behavior; Intersex conditions; Sex of rearing; Sexual orientation

Indexed keywords

ANDROGEN;

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT; CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM FUNCTION; ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR; GENDER AND SEX; GENDER IDENTITY; HORMONE ACTION; HUMAN; INHERITANCE; NONHUMAN; PRENATAL CARE; REVIEW; RISK FACTOR; SEX ROLE; SEXUAL BEHAVIOR; SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT; SOCIAL ASPECT; VIRILIZATION;

EID: 33750288068     PISSN: 10683097     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1097/00060793-200402000-00004     Document Type: Review

References (18)

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2. Hrabovszky Z, Hutson JM: Androgen imprinting of the brain in animal models and humans with intersex disorders: review and recommendations. J Urol 2002, 168:2142-2148. This extensive literature review of animal and human data suggests that although animal studies support a role for postnatal androgen in brain/behavior development, the results of human studies are neither completely supportive nor antagonistic. The results of human studies of early gender assignment and treatment as female with suppression or ablation of postnatal androgen production are unclear concerning gender identity and sex of rearing outcomes.
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10. th finger length ratio: evident for organizing effects of sex hormones or developmental instability? Psychoneuroendocrinology 2003, 28:288-303. Significantly lower ratios of the second and fourth finger length were found among homosexual males and females, this measure often being ascribed to organization action of prenatal androgens.
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13. Quinsey VL: The etiology of anomalous sexual preferences in men. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2003, 989:150-117. Determinants of the direction of sexual interest may include neural organization effects of intrauterine hormonal events, perhaps involving the maternal immune system.
14. Galfalvy HC, Erraji-Benchekroun L, Smyrniotopoulos P, et al.: Sex genes for genomic analysis in human brain: internal control for comparison of probe level data extraction. BMC Bioinformatics 2003, 4:37. Gender differences in gene expression in the brain prefrontal cortex support a putative role of sex chromosome genes in the differentiation and maintenance of sexual dimorphism in the CNS.
15. Bocklandt S, Hamer DH: Beyond hormones: a novel hypothesis for the biological basis of male sexual orientation. J Endocrinol Invest 2003, 26:8-12. Although there is no evidence that physiologically occurring variation in androgen exposure influences differences in sexual orientation, genomic imprinting in the regulation of sex-specific expression of genes may play a role in regulating sexually dimorphic traits, including sexual orientation.
16. Nordenstrom A, Servin A, Bohlin G, et al.: Sex-typed toy play behavior correlated with the degree of prenatal androgen exposure assessed by CYP21 genotype in girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2002, 87:5119-5124. This study provides data in support of a direct organizational effect on the human brain of fetal androgen exposure
17. Berenbaum SA, Bailey JM: Effects on gender identity of prenatal androgens and genital appearance: evidence from girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2003, 88:1102-1106. This research supports the concept that excess androgen action in girls with CAH results in an increased risk of atypical gender identity; this risk is not predictable from the degree of genital virilization.
18. Gooren LJ, Kruijver FP: Androgens and male behavior. Mol Cell Endocrinol 2002, 198:31-40. Although the paradigm of mammalian sexual differentiation in relation to the presence or absence of androgens correlated with sex-dimorphism in human behavior, clinical observations show compellingly that other, largely unidentified, factors may modulate or override the effects of androgens.