Brain Serotonin and Sexual Differentiation of the Nervous System

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Abstract
Serotonin concentration was determined in the brains of male and female rats on the 1st, 4th, 8th, and 12th day after birth. It was observed that while the amount of 5HT is comparable within the two sexes up to day 8, it rises significantly in females on day 12. This elevation in serotonin levels could be prevented if the females were injected with testosterone propionate on the day of birth. By comparison, males castrated at birth had brain serotonin levels comparable to those in intact females and significantely greater than those in intact littermates. These results suggest that the serotonin concentration may be related to the process of sexual differentiation of the brain, since this concentration is modified by the same procedures that induce androgenization. It is also suggested that the testosterone liberated by the neonatal gonad may modify the metabolism of brain serotonin only on day 12, which period corresponds to the time of the sexual differentiation of the structures that control gonadotrophin secretion.

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