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Sex Differences in Neurodevelopment and Its Disorders

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Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics

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Abstract

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are often sexually dimorphic, with one sex more affected than the other. This chapter examines the genetic mechanisms underlying sex determination and the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying sexual differentiation. Research on the development of sex differences in the brain and body focuses on the prenatal, perinatal, and pubertal critical periods of development and how hormones and other neurochemical signals act as epigenetic mechanisms to shape male and female brains and neuroendocrine systems. In addition to genes and hormones, glial cells and the neuroimmune system are involved in sexual differentiation of just about every physiological system in the body. Given that each cell in the body has XX or XY chromosomes, every cell is sexually differentiated. While the focus of this chapter is on the sexual differentiation of the brain and neuroendocrine system and how these sex differences influence the development of NDD), I have also examined sex differences in the cardiovascular system and in energy metabolism which result in sex differences in cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. While the primary events in sexual differentiation occur prenatally and perinatally, puberty is also a period of sexual differentiation and the reorganization of neural and neuroendocrine pathways that occur during the transition from childhood to adulthood. Puberty is also associated with the onset of adolescent NDD, including obesity, anorexia, neuropsychiatric and addictive disorder, as well as disorders of gender identity and role. This chapter also discusses the effect of neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors in the disorders of sex differentiation and in the development of NDD.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Hiyam Gedalia, Kyle Roddick and Jessica Garden for their help in organizing this chapter and Dan Goldowitz for his editorial assistance.

Multiple-Choice Questions

  1. 1.

    If a person has XXY sex chromosomes, they have the disorder A and will have the physical features of B

    1. (a)

      Turner’s syndrome; female

    2. (b)

      Klinefelter syndrome; male

    3. (c)

      Klinefelter syndrome; female

    4. (d)

      Congenital adrenal hyperplasia; female

    5. (e)

      Kallman syndrome; male

  2. 2.

    During the prenatal critical period of development, the hormone A has the effect of B of the brain.

    1. (a)

      Testosterone; masculinization

    2. (b)

      Prolactin; masculinization

    3. (c)

      Testosterone; feminization

    4. (d)

      Progesterone; feminization

    5. (e)

      Corticosterone; masculinization

  3. 3.

    The neuropeptide A regulates the secretion of the hypothalamic hormone B to regulate the sexual differentiation.

    1. (a)

      Substance P; GnRH

    2. (b)

      Galanin; CRH

    3. (c)

      CCK; TRH

    4. (d)

      Kisspeptin; GnRH

    5. (e)

      Kisspeptin; Oxytocin

  4. 4.

    The area of the brain that regulates hormone secretion from the pituitary gland is

    1. (a)

      the prefrontal cortex

    2. (b)

      the amygdala

    3. (c)

      the hippocampus

    4. (d)

      the cerebellum

    5. (e)

      the hypothalamus

  5. 5.

    Bisphenol A is a

    1. (a)

      neurotransmitter

    2. (b)

      neuropeptide

    3. (c)

      endocrine disruptor

    4. (d)

      hypothalamic hormone

    5. (e)

      anterior pituitary hormone

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Richard E. Brown

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  1. Richard E. Brown
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard E. Brown .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    David D. Eisenstat

  2. Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Dan Goldowitz

  3. Department of Pediatrics and School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Tim F. Oberlander

  4. Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Jerome Y. Yager

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Brown, R.E. (2023). Sex Differences in Neurodevelopment and Its Disorders. In: Eisenstat, D.D., Goldowitz, D., Oberlander, T.F., Yager, J.Y. (eds) Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20792-1_11

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