Abstract
THE sexual differentiation of gonadotropin secretion1 and female sexual behaviour2 occurs in the rat hypothalamus5 during the early postnatal period and is produced by testicular androgen in the male, although it may be mimicked in the female by administration of oestrogen or androgen3. The mechanism of this neural differentiation probably involves the aromatisation of testicular androgen to oestrogen in the hypothalamus4, followed by a complex series of biochemical events contingent on the binding of this oestrogen to a receptor and the trans-location of the steroid-receptor complex to the nucleus. Cytosol oestrogen receptors6–8 and aromatising enzymes4 have been demonstrated in the neonatal brain; aromatising enzymes are localised to the differentiating areas4 whereas oestrogen receptors are found throughout the forebrain6,7. In the study reported here, we have measured the nuclear oestrogen receptor in the neonatal brain using a nuclear exchange assay9 and have found that its distribution is consistent with the postulated role of the oestrogen receptor in the sexual differentiation of the brain.
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WESTLEY, B., SALAMAN, D. Role of oestrogen receptor in androgen-induced sexual differentiation of the brain. Nature 262, 407–408 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/262407a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/262407a0
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