Fetal testosterone and sex differences☆

Abstract

Experiments in animals leave no doubt that androgens, including testosterone, produced by the testes in fetal and/or neonatal life act on the brain to induce sex differences in neural structure and function. In this article, we argue that prenatal and neonatal testosterone exposure are strong candidates for having a causal role in sexual dimorphism in human behaviour, including social development.

Keywords: Testosterone;, Sex differences

a Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, CB #7160, 7023 Neurosciences Hospital, Chapel Hill, NC 27599–7160, USA

b The Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Douglas House, 18b Trumpington Rd, Cambridge CB2 2AH, UK

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 919 966 8990; fax: +1 919 966 8994.

☆ The longitudinal studies of fetal testosterone and child development reviewed in this paper were carried out at the Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge. This work was supported by the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation. RCK was also supported by a British Government Overseas Research Studentship (ORS) and the Cambridge Overseas Trust. Portions of this work appeared in Knickmeyer and Baron-Cohen [42].

PII: S0378-3782(06)00247-7

doi:10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2006.09.014

4 of 14