Philadelphia, PA, November 5, 2012 New findings led by Dr. Michael Lombardo, Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues at the University of Cambridge indicate that testosterone levels early in fetal development influence later sensitivity of brain regions related to reward processing and affect an individual's susceptibility to engage in behavior, that in extremes, are related to several neuropsychiatric conditions that asymmetrically affect one sex more than the other.
Although present at low levels in females, testosterone is one of the primary sex hormones that exerts substantial influence over the emergence of differences between males and females. In adults and adolescents, heightened testosterone has been shown to reduce fear, lower sensitivity to punishment, increase risk-tasking, and enhance attention to threat. These effects interact substantially with context to affect social behavior.
This knowledge about the effects of testosterone in adolescence and adulthood suggests that it is related to influencing the balance between approach and avoidance behavior. These same behaviors are heightened in the teenage years and also emerge in extremes in many neuropsychiatric conditions, including conduct disorder, depression, substance abuse, autism, and psychopathy.
Scientists have long known that sex differences influence many aspects of psychiatric disorders, including age of disease onset, prevalence, and susceptibility. For example, according to the World Health Organization, depression is twice as common in women than men, whereas alcohol dependence shows the reverse pattern. In addition to many other factors, sex hormone levels are likely to be important factors contributing to sex differences in psychopathology.
However, research to date has mainly focused on sex hormone levels during adolescence and adulthood, when hormone levels are heightened and built upon substantial prior developmental experience. Sex hormone lev
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| Contact: Rhiannon Bugno Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu 214-648-0880 Elsevier Source:Eurekalert |