神经生物学 13、夏8 性与大脑.pptVIP

Is it Nature OR Nurture? In the late 1950s/early 1960s there was a well accepted concept championed by Dr. John Money: HOW ONE IS RAISED OR REARED FOR ABOUT THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF POSTNATAL LIFE IS WHAT DETERMINES ONE’S PSYCHOSEXUALITY “Gender identity is sufficiently incompletely differentiated at birth as to permit successful assignment of a genetic male as a girl. Gender identity then differentiates in keeping with the experience of rearing---J. Money, 1975 Epispadias：尿道上裂； innominate osteotomy：骨盆切骨术 Three Challenges to the Nurture Hypothesis Hormone-dependent sexual differentiation of brain function and structure well established in lab animals. Structural sex differences appear to exist in the human brain as well. The report by Money which demonstrated the marked effectiveness of Nurture and actually dictated clinical management for more than 2 decades, was seriously challenged in the 1990s. Effects of neonatal castration The normal adult gonadal steroids Effects of exogenous steroids No change Female Cyclic LH release Frequent lordosis No cyclic LH release Lordosis rare Cyclic LH release Frequent lordosis Male No cyclic LH release Lordosis rare No change Influence of the perinatal hormonal environment on adult neuroendocrine function in the rat Potential Mechanisms Studied Steroids increase neuronal mitotic(有丝分裂) activity. No positive evidence, as yet. Steroids alter apoptotic neuronal death. In the SDN-POA, which is larger in male rats, Testosterone treatment suppresses apoptotic neuronal death. - But not the only mechanism! Sexual Differentiation of the Rat Brain Nature’s ‘Blueprint’ for the internal and external genitalia and the brain is female. A male’s brain must be exposed to testicular hormones during a critical period of early development to attain the masculine characteristics in terms of brain structure and function. One mechanism for the alteration in brain structure may be an alteration in apoptosis. The process of a