Pyramidal neurons in the neocortex receive a majority of their synapses on dendritic spines, whose growth, gain, and loss regulate the strength and identity of neural connections. Juvenile brains typically show higher spine density and turnover compared to adult brains, potentially enabling greater capacity for experience-dependent circuit 'rewiring'. Although spine pruning and stabilization in...

There is compelling evidence for important sex differences in behavioral and hormonal responses to psychosocial stress. Here we examined the effects of gonadal hormones on behavioral responses to social defeat stress in monogamous California mice (Peromyscus californicus). Three episodes of social defeat induced social withdrawal in intact females but not males. Gonadectomy blocked corticostero...

- The effects of acute alcohol intoxication (AAI) on the pituitary-gonadal axis hormones, and the possible contribution of pituitary-adrenal axis hormones, beta-endorphin and prolactin to alcohol-induced dysfunction of pituitary-gonadal axis hormones were studied in adult men and women. Blood samples were drawn from adults of both sexes who arrived at the emergency department with evident behav...

Perinatal development is often viewed as the major window of time for organization of steroid-sensitive neural circuits by steroid hormones. Behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to steroids are dramatically different before and after puberty, suggesting that puberty is another window of time during which gonadal steroids affect neural development. In the present study, we investigated whethe...

Aim Gonadal hormones are essential for reproductive function, but can act on neural and other organ systems, and are probably the cause of the large majority of known sex differences in function and disease. The aim of this review is to provide evidence for this hypothesis in relation to eye disorders and to retinopathies in particular. Methods Epidemiological studies and research articles we...

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a relatively common neuropsychiatric disorder affecting between 1.6 and 3.2% of the population. A number of studies have previously reported increased incidence of OCD, or exacerbation of preexisting symptoms in females during reproductive events. Since these periods are known to involve fluctuating levels of gonadal hormones, these steroids have been sugg...

The immunologic potency of IgG is modulated by glycosylation, but mechanisms regulating this process are undefined. A role for sex hormones is suggested by differences in IgG glycans between women and men, most prominently with respect to galactose. We therefore assessed IgG galactosylation in 713 healthy adults from 2 cohorts as well as in 159 subjects from 4 randomized controlled studies of e...

Introduction: Sex differences in outcomes of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) suggest a sex-hormone-mediated effect on post-SCI pathological events, including glutamate excitotoxicity. This study aimed to investigate the importance of gonadal hormones on glutamate release subsequent to SCI in rats. Methods: After laminectomy at T8-T9, an electrolytic lesion was applied to the spinothalamic tracts of m...