Hormones and Sex Flashcards
What are the two effects of hormones?
Organizational (body development)
Activational (reproduction behaviors in mature adults)
Three types of sex hormones
androgens
estrogens
progesterones
Steroid hormones are synthesized by what?
Cholesterol
Which organs release sex hormones?
Gonads
Male testes
Female ovaries
Sometimes the adrenal glands
Where are endocrine organs regulated?
hypothalamus and pituitary through the nervous system
Gonad hormones are regulated where?
periventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus via the anterior pituitary
What signals sex hormone release?
the CNS
circulating hormones
Where does the hypothalamus receive sexual input?
reticular formation
limbic system
experience can alter hormones release
Male sex hormone detector
accurate nucleus, negative feedback = stabilize levels
Female sex hormone detector
anteroventtral PN, positive feedback = surge
Primordial gonads
Set of gonads every fetus has before development
Two parts of primordial glands
cortex (outer covering, potential to be an ovary)
medulla (inner core, potential to be a testis)
How does a testis get triggered to develop?
7th week: Sry gene of the Y chromosome triggers synthesis of Sry protein, which grows the medulla into a testis
If no Sry protein, then cortex develops into an ovary
Wolffian system
male; seminal vesicles,
vas deferens
Müllerian system
female; uterus,
vagina, fallopian tubes
