Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Neuroscience and Behaviour > Sex differences > Flashcards

Sex differences Flashcards

1
Q

Name a few types of sex difference

A

Genetic or chromosomal sex
Gonadal sex
Internal reproductive system
External reproductive system
Pubertal sex changes
Hormonal sex
Brain sex
Behavioural and ‘cognitive’ sex
Sexual identity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are female sex organs called?

A

mullerian system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are male sex organs called?

A

wolffian system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

In the development of MALE sex organs, what does the SRY region on the Y chromosome code for?

A

a testis-determining factor (a transcription factor

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What does the testis-determining factor do?

A

binds to DNA in cells of undifferentiated gonads and causes them to become testes.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What hormones do the testes produce during the development of male sex organs?

A

Testes produce hormones that have defeminising (anti-Mullerian hormone) and masculinising (androgens) effects.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is the Anti-Mullerian hormone?

A

a A peptide secreted by the foetal testes that has defeminising effects, i.e. inhibits the development of the Mullerian system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What two androgens are the primary causes of masculinisation during early development?

A

testosterone and dihydrotestosterone

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What does Dihydrotestosterone do?

A

produced from testosterone by 5alpha reductase, acts on androgen receptors in the primordial external genitals (with higher affinity than testosterone) and is critical to stimulate their development into male genitals.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

How many amino acid protiens are coded for the SRY region of the Y- chromosone in the Testes determining factor?

A

230

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What can prevent the development of testes?

A

Point mutations in XY individuals

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What does the wolffin system regression require according to recent research?

A

COUP-TFII, a nuclear receptor, so is not a passive process

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is XY sex reversal?

A

Point mutations in the SRY region of the Y chromosome result in female sex organs in XY individuals (

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is Androgen insensitivity syndrome?

A

A condition caused by congenital lack of functioning androgen receptors; in a person with XY sex chromosomes, causes development of a female with testes but no internal sex organs.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is Turner’s syndrome?

A

The presence of only one sex chromosome (an X chromosome) results in lack of ovaries but otherwise normal female sex organs and genitalia.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is Persistent Mullerian duct syndrome?

A

In an XY individual, congenital lack of anti-Mullerian hormone causes the development of both male and female internal sex organs.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What are axillary and pubic air in females stimulated by?

A

testosterone produced by cortex of adrenal glandsco

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is puberty triggered by?

A

Puberty is triggered by hypothalamic secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What are some steroids?

A
  • Testosterone
  • Estradiol
  • Progesterone
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What are some peptides?

A
  • Gonadotropins
  • Other hormones
21
Q

What is the organisational hypothesis?

A

William Young and colleagues proposed that early androgens, similar to their effects on sex organs, organise the developing CNS in a masculine way, so as to make female behaviours less likely (defeminisation) and male behaviours more likely (masculinisation) (Young et al, 1964, Science 143:212). (Without effects of androgens, the animals would behave in a female way – that is, as the sex organs, the animal’s brain and behaviour would by default develop in a female way.)

22
Q

What is the Neural and behavioural sex differences hypothesis?

A

There is evidence that neural sexual dimorphisms contribute substantially to sex differences in behaviour (especially reproductive behaviour), often in conjunction with activating effects of sex hormones on sexually dimorphic neural systems.

23
Q

Can Estrogens masculinise the brain in rodents?

A

it was found in many cases that estrogens are as effective as testosterone in masculinising the brain and behaviour in rodents. Moreover, many masculinising effects of testosterone were mediated by oestrogen receptors.

24
Q

What is the Aromatisiation hypothesis?

A

Based on these findings it was suggested that in some CNS cells testosterone is converted to oestrogen by an enzyme called aromatase before it acts on oestrogen receptors to exert masculinising effects.

25
Q

What is the Protection hypothesis?

A

The brains of developing rodents are ‘protected’ from the indiscriminate masculinising action of oestrogen by an oestrogen-binding protein, alpha-fetoprotein, in the blood. Testosterone is not bound by the protein, so can enter CNS cells where it can be converted to oestrogen and then exert its masculinising effects.

Hypothesis is strongly supported by finding that alpha-fetoprotein mutant mice show masculinised brains and behaviour (Bakker et al., 2006, Nature Neurosci 9:220).

26
Q

When is pregnancy possible?

A

during a certain time of the cycle around ovulation (when oestrogen and progesterone levels are high).

27
Q

When can females mate?

A

Females can mate only during a certain time of the cycle around ovulation (behavioural estrous), except for primate females who can mate any time.

28
Q

How are spinal mechanisms relevant to mating in rats?

A

Collection of motor neurons in the lower lumbar spinal chord; controls the bulbocavernosus muscle at the base of the penis.

29
Q

Why do mother rats lick their sons more?

A

testosterone exerts some masculinising effects on SNB and sexual behaviour via the rat mother - Rat mothers are stimulated to lick their male pups more often than their female pups because of testosterone in urine.

30
Q

What is it called when mother rats lick their sons more?

A

Such anogenital licking contributes to normal male sexual behaviour in the adult and to a normal number of SNB neurons.

31
Q

What is SDN-POA masculinised by?

A

SDN-POA is masculinised by testosterone during a critical perinatal period.

32
Q

What does MePD volume and size depend on?

A

MePD volume and cell size depend on testosterone action in adulthood.

33
Q

FEMALE VMH and sex -

A

destruction abolished sexual behaviour
mating cases production of fos protein
neurons contain estrogeb abd progesterone recepptiors
injection of estradiol and oprogestrone enhances sexual behaviour of ovariectomozed rats.

34
Q

FEMALE PAG of midbrain and sex -

A

Destruction abolished sexual behaviour
Estradiol treatment or stimulation of VMH increases neural activity
Neurons contain estrogen and progesterone receptors

35
Q

FEMALE Reticular Formation and sex -

A

Mating behaviours

36
Q

FEMALE Medial Amygdala and sex -

A

Mating causes production of Fos protein
Neurons contain estrogen and progesterones receptors

37
Q

MALE PGi of medulla and sex -

A

part of pathway betweeen media preoptic area and motor neirons in the spinal cord

38
Q

MALE medial amygdala and sex -

A

destriction disrupts sexual behaviour
mating causes production of fos protien

39
Q

MALE MPA and sex -

A

Destruction abolished sexual behaviour
prenatal stress reduces size of sexually dimorphic nucleus, decreases sexual behavuoir
mating causes the prduction of fos protiens
Injection of testosterone enhances sexual behaviour of castrated rats

40
Q

Fliers & Swaab, 1985

A

One nucleus in the POA of hypothalamus was larger in volume and cell number in males than in females.

Hence, the authors named the nucleus SDN.

41
Q

LeVay, 1991

A

Found no significant sex differences in INAH 1,2, and 4.

Replicated that INAH3 was larger in heterosexual men than in women.

Found additionally that INAH3 did not differ between homosexual men and heterosexual women.

42
Q

Allen et al, 1989

A

Studied four nuclei in the POA, which they named interstitial nuclei of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH) 1-4.

INAH1 corresponded to SDN of Fliers&Swaab (1985), but did not differ between sexes. INAH4 also did not differ.

INAH2 and 3 were larger in men than in females.

43
Q

Are men more sexually agressive?

A

Testosterone has been suggested to contribute to these sex differences by acting on the brain, and some direct evidence supports this suggestion (However, other factors might also contribute, for example that men are – on average – physically stronger than women.)

44
Q

What are women better at - tasks?

A

requiring perceptual speed, verbal fluency, visual mem and fine motor skills

45
Q

What are men better at - tasks?

A

men tend to do better than women on spatial tasks.

46
Q

are there sex differences in prarie voles?

A

there is evidence that such differences might have evolved due to ecological pressures (they only exist in polygamous species in which males range more widely than females in the field) and correlate with a larger hippocampus (a structure that is critical for spatial learning) in males

47
Q

Is the hippocampus larger in men or women?

A

Sex differences in the hippocampus have also been found in rats (even though in rodents, the hippocampus tends to be larger in males than in females, whereas in humans the opposite is the case!). Origin of these sex differences is not clear.

48
Q

What is the prevalence of affective disorders?

A

Affective disorders (with the exception of mania) and anxiety disorders are more prevalent in women, substance abuse disorders and antisocial personality disorder are more prevalent in men

49
Q

What is the prevelance of Autism-spectrum disorder?

A

They are more prevalent in males than in females - mean ratio 4:1
This finding has prompted the Extreme-Male-Brain Theory of Autism.

Neuroscience and Behaviour (4 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions