Testosterone Amplifies Pre-programmed Male Behaviors
TS-SI
04 May, 2010
http://ts-si.org/biology/24796-testosterone-amplifies-pre-programmed-male-behaviors (http://ts-si.org/biology/24796-testosterone-amplifies-pre-programmed-male-behaviors)
A study in the journal Neuron demonstrates that direct action of testosterone, the prototypical male hormone, is unnecessary for masculinizing the brain and behavior. This is new and surprising information about how sex hormones control masculinization of the brain during development and drive male-specific behaviors in adults.
"It was known that testosterone and estrogen are essential for typical male behaviors in many vertebrate species," explains the study's senior author, Dr. Nirao M. Shah from the Department of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco.