TY - JOUR
T1 - Prenatal androgen influences on the brain
T2 - A review, critique, and illustration of research on congenital adrenal hyperplasia
AU - Beltz, Adriene M.
AU - Demidenko, Michael I.
AU - Wilson, Stephen J.
AU - Berenbaum, Sheri A.
N1 - Funding Information:
A. M. Beltz was supported by the Jacobs Foundation. M. I. Demidenko was supported by NICHD grant 007109 to V. C. McLoyd and C. S. Monk. Data reported here were supported by NIMH grant 099617 to S. A. Berenbaum. The authors thank the Mariani Foundation for supporting this review via the “Developmental cognitive/behavioral neuroscience and gender differences: normality and pathology” Congress in Milan, Italy in November 2019. They also thank Tina Bryk, Shannon Henry, and members of the Berenbaum Lab at The Pennsylvania State University for their contributions to the collection and management of the illustrative data reported here.
Funding Information:
A. M. Beltz was supported by the Jacobs Foundation. M. I. Demidenko was supported by NICHD grant 007109 to V. C. McLoyd and C. S. Monk. Data reported here were supported by NIMH grant 099617 to S. A. Berenbaum.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - Sex hormones, especially androgens, contribute to sex and gender differences in the brain and behavior. Organizational effects are particularly important because they are thought to be permanent, reflecting hormone exposure during sensitive periods of development. In human beings, they are often studied with natural experiments in which sex hormones are dissociated from other biopsychosocial aspects of development, such as genes and experiences. Indeed, the greatest evidence for organizational effects on sex differences in human behavior comes from studies of females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), who have heightened prenatal androgen exposure, female-typical rearing, and masculinized toy play, activity and career interests, spatial skills, and some personal characteristics. Interestingly, however, neuroimaging studies of females with CAH have revealed few neural mechanisms underlying these hormone-behavior links, with the exception of emotion processing; studies have instead shown reduced gray matter volumes and reduced white matter integrity most consistent with other disease-related processes. The goals of this narrative review are to: (a) describe methods for studying prenatal androgen influences, while offering a brief overview of behavioral outcomes; (b) provide a critical methodological review of neuroimaging research on females with CAH; (c) present an illustrative analysis that overcomes methodological limitations of previous work, focusing on person-specific neural reward networks (and their associations with sensation seeking) in women with CAH and their unaffected sisters in order to inform future research questions and approaches that are most likely to reveal organizational hormone effects on brain structure and function.
AB - Sex hormones, especially androgens, contribute to sex and gender differences in the brain and behavior. Organizational effects are particularly important because they are thought to be permanent, reflecting hormone exposure during sensitive periods of development. In human beings, they are often studied with natural experiments in which sex hormones are dissociated from other biopsychosocial aspects of development, such as genes and experiences. Indeed, the greatest evidence for organizational effects on sex differences in human behavior comes from studies of females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), who have heightened prenatal androgen exposure, female-typical rearing, and masculinized toy play, activity and career interests, spatial skills, and some personal characteristics. Interestingly, however, neuroimaging studies of females with CAH have revealed few neural mechanisms underlying these hormone-behavior links, with the exception of emotion processing; studies have instead shown reduced gray matter volumes and reduced white matter integrity most consistent with other disease-related processes. The goals of this narrative review are to: (a) describe methods for studying prenatal androgen influences, while offering a brief overview of behavioral outcomes; (b) provide a critical methodological review of neuroimaging research on females with CAH; (c) present an illustrative analysis that overcomes methodological limitations of previous work, focusing on person-specific neural reward networks (and their associations with sensation seeking) in women with CAH and their unaffected sisters in order to inform future research questions and approaches that are most likely to reveal organizational hormone effects on brain structure and function.
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U2 - 10.1002/jnr.24900
DO - 10.1002/jnr.24900
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34139025
AN - SCOPUS:85108138399
SN - 0360-4012
VL - 101
SP - 563
EP - 574
JO - Journal of Neuroscience Research
JF - Journal of Neuroscience Research
IS - 5
ER -