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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Developmental biology
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Sex and the Developing Brain (Hardcover, 2nd Revised edition)
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Sex and the Developing Brain (Hardcover, 2nd Revised edition)
Series: Colloquium Series on The Developing Brain
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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The brains of males and females, men and women, are different, that
is a fact. What is debated is how different and how important are
those differences. Sex differences in the brain are determined by
genetics, hormones, and experience, which in humans includes
culture, society, and parental and peer expectations. The
importance of nonbiological variables to sex differences in humans
is paramount, making it difficult if not impossible to parse out
those contributions that are truly biological. The study of animals
provides us the opportunity to understand the magnitude and scope
of biologically based sex differences in the brain, and
understanding the cellular mechanisms provides us insight into
novel sources of brain plasticity. Many sex differences are
established during a developmental sensitive window by differences
in the hormonal milieu of males versus females. The neonatal testis
produces large amounts of testosterone which gains access to the
brain and is further metabolized into active androgens and
estrogens which modify brain development. Major parameters that are
influenced by hormones include neurogenesis, cell death,
neurochemical phenotype, axonal and dendritic growth, and
synaptogenesis. Variance in these parameters results in sex
differences in the size of particular brain regions, the
projections between brain regions, and the number and type of
synapses within particular brain regions. The cellular mechanisms
are both region and endpoint specific and invoke many surprising
systems such as prostaglandins, endocannabinoids, and cell death
proteins. Epigenetic modifications to the genome both establish and
maintain sex differences in the brain and behavior. By
understanding when, why, and how sex differences in the brain are
established, we may also learn the source of strong gender biases
in the relative risk and severity of numerous neurological diseases
and disorders of mental health. Boys are much more likely to be
diagnosed with autism spectrum or attention and hyperactivity
disorders, as well as speech and language deficits, compared to
girls. By contrast, women are more likely to suffer from affective
disorders, such as depression, anxiety, compulsion, and eating
disorders and more likely to experience autoimmune and
neurodegenerative disorders. Schizophrenia with an early onset is
more common in males but a late-onset version is markedly more
frequent in females. Male biased disorders have origins in
development while female biased disorders are almost exclusively
post-puberty. This remarkable shift in disease risk demands our
attention. Novel insights into the biological origins of disease
are also gained by comparing and contrasting the same processes in
different sexes.
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