Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS), University of Torino, 10123 Turin, Italy.
Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO), Orbassano, 10043 Turin, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jul 26;22(15):7984. doi: 10.3390/ijms22157984.
Steroid hormones represent an amazing class of molecules that play pleiotropic roles in vertebrates. In mammals, during postnatal development, sex steroids significantly influence the organization of sexually dimorphic neural circuits underlying behaviors critical for survival, such as the reproductive one. During the last decades, multiple studies have shown that many cortical and subcortical brain regions undergo sex steroid-dependent structural organization around puberty, a critical stage of life characterized by high sensitivity to external stimuli and a profound structural and functional remodeling of the organism. Here, we first give an overview of current data on how sex steroids shape the peripubertal brain by regulating neuroplasticity mechanisms. Then, we focus on adult neurogenesis, a striking form of persistent structural plasticity involved in the control of social behaviors and regulated by a fine-tuned integration of external and internal cues. We discuss recent data supporting that the sex steroid-dependent peripubertal organization of neural circuits involves a sexually dimorphic set-up of adult neurogenesis that in turn could be relevant for sex-specific reproductive behaviors.
甾体激素是一类令人惊叹的分子，它们在脊椎动物中发挥着多种作用。在哺乳动物中，在出生后发育过程中，性激素会显著影响生殖等对生存至关重要的性行为背后的性二态神经回路的组织。在过去的几十年中，多项研究表明，许多皮质和皮质下脑区在青春期前后经历了性激素依赖性的结构组织，青春期是一个生命的关键阶段，其特点是对外界刺激高度敏感，以及机体的深刻结构和功能重塑。在这里，我们首先概述了当前关于性激素通过调节神经可塑性机制来塑造围青春期大脑的研究数据。然后，我们将重点放在成年神经发生上，这是一种引人注目的持续结构可塑性形式，涉及到社会行为的控制，并受到外部和内部线索的精细整合的调节。我们讨论了支持性激素依赖的神经回路围青春期组织涉及到成年神经发生的性二态设置的最新数据，而这反过来又可能与特定于性别的生殖行为有关。
