Sex differences in the brain: a whole body perspective.
Sex differences in the brain: a whole body perspective.
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DOI：
10.1186/s13293-015-0032-z
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发表时间：
2015
影响因子：
7.9
通讯作者：
Forger NG
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
de Vries GJ;Forger NG
大多数关于哺乳动物大脑（包括我们自己的大脑）性别分化的文章只考虑两个器官：性腺和大脑。这种观点忽略了所有其他身体部位，在几个方面误导了我们。首先，越来越多的证据表明，所有器官都有性别差异，而外周器官的性别差异会影响大脑。我们通过回顾肌肉、脂肪组织、肝脏、免疫系统、肠道、肾脏、膀胱和胎盘中影响神经系统和行为的性别差异的例子来证明这一点。在考虑神经性别差异时忽略其他器官的第二个后果是，我们可能会错过这样一个事实，即一些大脑性别差异的发展是为了补偿内部环境的差异（即，因为男性和女性的大脑在不同的身体中运作，所以需要性别差异来使两性的输出/功能更加相似）。我们还考虑了感觉系统的性别差异导致男性和女性大脑感知世界的不同信息的证据;两性对世界的感知也不同，因此通过他人的治疗暴露于经验的差异。虽然大脑性别差异的研究往往比其他器官的性别差异研究更容易引起情感上的共鸣，但这种二分法在很大程度上是错误的。通过将大脑牢固地放回身体，大脑中的性别差异是可以预测的，并且可以更全面地理解。
Most writing on sexual differentiation of the mammalian brain (including our own) considers just two organs: the gonads and the brain. This perspective, which leaves out all other body parts, misleads us in several ways. First, there is accumulating evidence that all organs are sexually differentiated, and that sex differences in peripheral organs affect the brain. We demonstrate this by reviewing examples involving sex differences in muscles, adipose tissue, the liver, immune system, gut, kidneys, bladder, and placenta that affect the nervous system and behavior. The second consequence of ignoring other organs when considering neural sex differences is that we are likely to miss the fact that some brain sex differences develop to compensate for differences in the internal environment (i.e., because male and female brains operate in different bodies, sex differences are required to make output/function more similar in the two sexes). We also consider evidence that sex differences in sensory systems cause male and female brains to perceive different information about the world; the two sexes are also perceived by the world differently and therefore exposed to differences in experience via treatment by others. Although the topic of sex differences in the brain is often seen as much more emotionally charged than studies of sex differences in other organs, the dichotomy is largely false. By putting the brain firmly back in the body, sex differences in the brain are predictable and can be more completely understood.