Hormonal mechanisms underlying aberrant sexual differentiation in male rats prenatally exposed to alcohol, stress, or both

Archives of Sexual Behavior
O B WardJ A French

Abstract

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 led to incomplete behavioral defeminization. Behavioral masculinization was not altered by fetal alcohol exposure alone, but a significant number of males that experienced prenatal stress alone failed to copulate. A more severe disruption of behavioral masculinization occurred when stress and alcohol were combined. Very few males exposed to the combination treatment mated with females. This study attempted to relate the effects of these treatments on sexual behavior to the postparturitional surge in plasma testosterone (T) that is known to influence the process of sexual differentiation. Prenatally stressed males, like control males showed a large, brief surge in plasma T that peaked 1 hr after delivery. Altered defeminization and masculinization were seen in prenatally stressed males, despite a normal postparturitional T surge. Fetal alc...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 3, 2004·Birth Defects Research. Part B, Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology·Mari S GolubJames E Morgan
Nov 19, 2004·Developmental Psychobiology·Andrew P McMechanJohn H Hannigan
Jan 5, 2012·Neurotoxicity Research·Carlos J BaierMarta C Antonelli
Jul 17, 2013·Archives of Sexual Behavior·Tahiana Signorini AndreazzaMaria Inês Rodrigues Lobato
Jan 18, 2019·Reproduction : the Official Journal of the Society for the Study of Fertility·L K AkisonN Reid
Sep 10, 2013·Neurochemical Research·María Eugenia PallarésMarta Cristina Antonelli
Nov 23, 2012·The Journal of Comparative Neurology·Julie A MarkhamJames I Koenig

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