Denenberg V H, Fitch R H, Schrott L M, Cowell P E, Waters N S
Department of Psychology University of Connecticut Storrs, 06269-4154.
Behav Neurosci. 1991 Aug;105(4):562-6. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.105.4.562.
Previous research found that the corpus callosum of male rats is larger than that of females; handling rats in infancy enhances this sex difference; and female rat pups, when handled in infancy and given 1 injection of testosterone propionate (TP) on Day 4 of life, will have callosa as large as those of males. In 2 experiments, male pups were castrated on Day 1 or received sham surgery; female pups were injected with TP on Day 4 or received an oil injection. Litters were handled or nonhandled. The previous finding that females, when handled and given TP in infancy, have a larger callosum was confirmed; however, a TP effect when administered to nonhandled females was not found. Because handling is known to cause a corticosterone release, these findings were interpreted as evidence of a developmental interaction between adrenal and gonadal hormones at the cortical level.
先前的研究发现，雄性大鼠的胼胝体比雌性大鼠的大；在幼年时期对大鼠进行抚摸会增强这种性别差异；而雌性幼鼠在幼年时期接受抚摸并在出生后第4天注射一次丙酸睾酮（TP），其胼胝体将与雄性大鼠的一样大。在两项实验中，雄性幼鼠在出生后第1天被阉割或接受假手术；雌性幼鼠在出生后第4天注射TP或注射油剂。幼崽接受或不接受抚摸。之前关于雌性幼鼠在幼年时期接受抚摸并给予TP后胼胝体更大的发现得到了证实；然而，未发现对未接受抚摸的雌性大鼠给予TP有效果。由于已知抚摸会导致皮质酮释放，这些发现被解释为肾上腺和性腺激素在皮质水平上发生发育相互作用的证据。
