B lymphocyte production in murine bone marrow is negatively regulated by sex steroids and the aim of this study was to identify early hormone sensitive checkpoints. Estrogen (E2) treatment reduced cmu(+) pre-B cells, a change that occurred concomitantly with decreased Ig gene rearrangements and rag-1 transcripts. Estrogen decreased B lineage precursors in Ig transgenic mice, demonstrating that ...