Sex-selective abortion is not specific to Asia. Christophe Guilmoto and Géraldine Duthé explain why European countries in the Western Balkans and Southern Caucasus are affected too. Although the problem was described for the first time more than ten years ago, it is only now that the authorities in these countries and in Europe are starting to show concern. Masculinization of births in Eastern ...

Newly developed genetic models indicate that estrogen receptors (ERs) alone mediate prenatal masculinization of the mouse brain to organize reproductive and territorial behaviors, while postnatal activation of androgen receptors (ARs) potentiates specific components of those behaviors. These results and others offer a model of how AR and ER pathways interact to fully masculinize the brain and b...

Appropriate displays of aggression rely on the ability to recognize potential competitors. As in most species, Drosophila males fight with other males and do not attack females. In insects, sex recognition is strongly dependent on chemosensory communication, mediated by cuticular hydrocarbons acting as pheromones. While the roles of chemical and other sensory cues in stimulating male to female ...

Reproductive disorders that are common/increasing in prevalence in human males may arise because of deficient androgen production/action during a fetal 'masculinization programming window'. We identify a potentially important role for Chicken Ovalbumin Upstream Promoter-Transcription Factor II (COUP-TFII) in Leydig cell (LC) steroidogenesis that may partly explain this. In rats, fetal LC size a...

INTRODUCTION: Transsexuals are individuals who experience discomfort or anguish caused by the discrepancy between their gender identity and assigned sex at birth, so they intensely need to opposite gender. The main purpose of facial masculinization feminization is provide transsexual individual with a face that matches real make them accept, recognize identify themselves looking in mirror, with...

Although varying degrees of genital masculinization are a reasonably common phenomenon in the world of female mammals, the majority of such variation has not been investigated. In this chapter we have described research on the "masculinized" genitalia of moles and hyenas. Such research raises intriguing possibilities regarding the coordinated role that androgens, estrogens and peptide hormones ...

The male offspring of rats exposed to restraint stress, alcohol, or both during late pregnancy show normally masculinized genitalia; however, sexual differentiation of behavior is dissociated from the external morphology. In contrast to controls, males exposed prenatally to stress, alcohol, or a combination of these factors exhibited the female lordotic pattern. Thus, all 3 prenatal treatments ...

Release of testosterone during early development is necessary for masculinization of brain structures in rodents. Wu et al. (2009) now elucidate the neuronal changes caused by aromatase-mediated conversion of testosterone into estrogen in perinatal mice and the ensuing effects on adult behavior.