Influence of Hormones on Sexual Behavior

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A new branch of experimental animal sexology has become established within the last 5 years. It has been shown that sex hormones administered within the limits of a critical period near the time of birth affect the neural organization of the hypo-thalamus with permanent subsequent effects on the sex-endocrine cycle or sexual behavior, or both. It is possible to conjecture that human parallels exist in various clinical syndromes involving the sexual system. Within approximately the same recent period, a 2nd new branch of experimental animal sexology has become established, namely, one in which neurohormonal relationships in sexual behavior are investigated directly in the hypothalamus. The experiments variously involve micro-injections of hormone into the hypothalamus; direct hormone implantation in the hypothalamus; radioactive hormone uptake in the hypothalamus; eeg tracings from hypothalamically implanted electrodes relative to subcutaneous hormone injections; and studies of endocrine, and of eeg or behavioral reactions in response to the neural stimulation of touch in the vagina and light in the eyes, the latter by way of the pineal. A 3rd new branch of experimental sexology pertains to the sense of smell as a regulator both of sexual attraction and of conception. Odors which carry exocrine excitation or messages from one individual to another are known as pheromones, in contrast to hormones which carry endocrine excitation or messages from one system to another within a single individual body.