Actions of sex hormones on the brain

1. The brain is a target for sex steroid hormones. As a result of sex hormone actions on the brain various behavioral changes are observed in animal and man. This paper gives a brief overview over the multiple central nervous functions that are under modulatory control of sexual hormones and describes the complex sex steroid actions on the brain by giving an example for "activating" and "organizing" effects of estrogens on noradrenergic neurons in the brain of rats. 2. Estradiol-17 beta induced sex specific alterations in the turnover of noradrenaline in the preoptic area and mediobasal hypothalamus showing "female" or "male" responses. 3. Neonatal manipulations of female rat pups by testos…