Structural and Functional Sex Differences in the Human Hypothalamus

@article{Swaab2001StructuralAF,
  title={Structural and Functional Sex Differences in the Human Hypothalamus},
  author={Dick F. Swaab and Wilson C.J. Chung and Frank P. M. Kruijver and Michel A. Hofman and T. A. Ishunina},
  journal={Hormones and Behavior},
  year={2001},
  volume={40},
  pages={93-98}
}
Sex differences in the brain may be the basis not only for sex differences in reproduction, gender identity (the feeling of being male or female), and sexual orientation (heterosexuality vs homosexuality), but also for the sex difference in prevalence of psychiatric and neurological diseases ( Swaab and Hofman, 1995 ). In this brief article we discuss a few examples of structural and functional sex differences in the human brain. 
View on Elsevier
thedea.org
97 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
1
Background Citations
44
Methods Citations
1
Results Citations
7

Figures from this paper

97 Citations

Sex and Gender Differences in Central Nervous System-Related Disorders

The clinical literature on sex differences in pain and neurological and psychiatric diseases is reviewed to further stimulate interest in sexual dimorphisms in the brain and brain diseases, possibly encouraging more research in the field of the implications of sex differences for treating these conditions.

The neural basis of sex differences in sexual behavior: A quantitative meta-analysis

Sex differences in neurodevelopment

How gonadal steroid hormones organise the rodent and human brain in a gender-dependent fashion is discussed, with special interest given to how testosterone and its metabolites affect downstream signalling cascades, including gonadal steroids receptor activation and epigenetic events during brain sexual differentiation.

Sexual differentiation of the human brain in relation to gender identity and sexual orientation.

Sex in the brain. Gender differences in the human hypothalamus and adjacent areas. Relationship to transsexualism, sexual orientation, sex hormone receptors and endocrine status

This dissertation aims to provide a history of web exceptionalism from 1989 to 2002, a period chosen in order to explore its roots as well as specific cases up to and including the year in which descriptions of “Web 2.0” began to circulate.

Vasopressin and oxytocin receptor systems in the brain: Sex differences and sex-specific regulation of social behavior

Androgens and male behavior

Why sex matters for neuroscience

  • L. Cahill
  • Psychology
    Nature Reviews Neuroscience
  • 2006
The striking quantity and diversity of sex-related influences on brain function indicate that the still widespread assumption that sex influences are negligible cannot be justified, and probably retards progress in the field.

Variations in Sex Differentiation : The Neurobiology of Gender Dysphoria

It can be concluded that there is biological evidence for sex differentiation and indications that lead science into considering biological components for gender dysphoria and for future research questions focused more on the possible genetic factors of gender identity, consider larger sample sizes and more replications.

Sex differences in the development of brain mechanisms for processing biological motion

...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 37 REFERENCES

Sexual differentiation of the human hypothalamus in relation to gender and sexual orientation

A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexuality

This study is the first to show a female brain structure in genetically male transsexuals and supports the hypothesis that gender identity develops as a result of an interaction between the developing brain and sex hormones.

A difference in hypothalamic structure between heterosexual and homosexual men

The measured volumes of INAH 3 indicate that INAH is dimorphic with sexual orientation, at least in men, and suggests that sexual orientation has a biological substrate.

The human hypothalamus in relation to gender and sexual orientation.

Sexual differentiation of the human hypothalamus: ontogeny of the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area.

Sexual orientation and the size of the anterior commissure in the human brain.

  • L. S. AllenR. Gorski
  • Psychology, Biology
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
  • 1992
This finding of a difference in a structure not known to be related to reproductive functions supports the hypothesis that factors operating early in development differentiate sexually dimorphic structures and functions of the brain, including the anterior commissure and sexual orientation, in a global fashion.

A sex difference in neurodegeneration of the human hypothalamus

Male-to-female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus.

The present findings of somatostatin neuronal sex differences in the BSTc and its sex reversal in the transsexual brain clearly support the paradigm that in transsexuals sexual differentiation of the brain and genitals may go into opposite directions and point to a neurobiological basis of gender identity disorder.

Evidence for a morphological sex difference within the medial preoptic area of the rat brain

A sexually dimorphic nucleus in the human brain.

A sexually dimorphic cell group is described in the preoptic area of the human hypothalamus, located within an area that is essential for gonadotropin release and sexual behavior in other mammals.