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Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: produce sex-specific + sex-specific gene + brain  Related to the article below (Last Update: 7/1/2008)


The Province
Sexuality may be all in your ... brain
The Province, Canada - Jun 17, 2008
Jorgensen said the study is interesting because it suggests rather than being caused by extra, sex-specific nerve cells, attraction behaviors are part of ...
Source: Google News

dissatisfaction, a gene involved in sex-specific behavior and neural development of Drosophila … -
KD Finley, BJ Taylor, M Milstein, M McKeown - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1997 - National Acad Sciences
... of-function or null allele of this gene. ... for copulation, this inability to produce
deep bends ... dsf Females and Males Show Sex-Specific Neuronal Abnormalities. ...

Mammalian Sex Determination: From Gonads to Brain -
E Vilain, ERB McCabe - Molecular Genetics and Metabolism, 1998 - Elsevier
... Mammalian Sex Determination: From Gonads to Brain ... The testes subsequently produce
the male sex hormones that are ... In 1990, the sex-determining gene, TDF, was ...

[PDF] Sex chromosomes and brain gender -
AP Arnold - Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2004 - med.virginia.edu
... evolve the means by which to produce eggs and ... and copulation),and to engage in
sex-specific territoriality, aggression ... 1) .The Y gene that has the strongest ...
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Genes expressed in the Drosophila head reveal a role for fat cells in sex-specific physiology -
S Fujii - The EMBO Journal, 2002 - palgrave-journals.com
... dsx pre-mRNA to produce a transcript ... alternative pathway important for sex-specific
gene expression. ... important role in establishing sex-specific differences in ...

Genetically Triggered Sexual Differentiation of Brain and Behavior -
AP Arnold - Hormones and Behavior, 1996 - Elsevier
... mutations of this gene in humans produce XY individu ... One example is the SRY gene,
which probably evolved the ... et al., 1995), it would appear to be a sex-specific ...

Mammalian sex determination: a molecular drama -
A Swain, R Lovell-Badge - Genes & Development, 1999 - Cold Spring Harbor Lab
... The gonad initially develops in a non-sex-specific manner, being ... the cause of the
diseases where this gene is involved. ... Sertoli cells if they are to produce AMH ...

[PDF] Sex-specific peptides from exocrine glands stimulate mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons -
H Kimoto, S Haga, K Sato, K Touhara - Nature, 2005 - life.nthu.edu.tw
... various exocrine glands that produce substances affecting ... Interestingly, the ESP
gene family is clustered within ... Identification of the sex-specific peptide ESP1 ...
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Catechol-O-methyltransferase-deficient mice exhibit sexually dimorphic changes in catecholamine … -
JA Gogos, M Morgan, V Luine, M Santha, S Ogawa, D … - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the …, 1998 - pubmedcentral.nih.gov
... Interestingly, null mutants also present sex-specific behavioral deficits that ... in
COMT activity can produce a behavioral ... knockout model for a gene considered a ...

Minireview: Sex Chromosomes and Brain Sexual Differentiation -
AP Arnold, J Xu, W Grisham, X Chen, YH Kim, Y Itoh - Endocrinology, 2004 - Endocrine Soc
... Thus, more information is needed on X gene dosage and its sex- specific effects ... In
some cases, the genomic imprint is known to produce differences in XX and ...

Sex-Specific Deployment of FGF Signaling in Drosophila Recruits Mesodermal Cells into the Male … -
SM Ahmad, BS Baker - Cell, 2002 - Elsevier
... The sex-specific patterns of growth of the genital imaginal ... and the transformer-2
(tra-2) gene product direct ... the doublesex (dsx) pre-mRNA to produce an mRNA ...

Source: Google Scholar
 
 

Brain cells that produce dopamine depend upon a sex-specific gene

 
 
Researchers at University of California – Los Angeles ( UCLA ) have discovered that a sex gene, responsible for making embryos male and forming the testes, is also produced by the brain region targeted by Parkinson's disease.

The new research, published in the Current Biology, may explain why more men than women develop this degenerative disorder.

" Men are 1.5 times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than women," said Eric Vilain, at UCLA. " Our findings may offer new clues to how the disorder affects men and women differently, and shed light on why men are more susceptible to the disease."

In 1990, British researchers identified SRY as the gene that determines gender and makes embryos male. Located on the male sex chromosome, SRY manufactures a protein that is secreted by cells in the testes.

Now, Vilain's team became the first to trace the SRY protein to a region of the brain called the substantia nigra, which deteriorates in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease occurs when cells in the substantia nigra begin to malfunction and die. These brain cells produce a neurotransmitter called dopamine that communicates with the brain areas controlling movement and coordination.

As the cells die off, they produce less dopamine. This slows the delivery of messages from the brain to the rest of the body, leaving the person unable to initiate or control their physical movements. The condition eventually leads to paralysis.

" For the first time, we've discovered that the brain cells that produce dopamine depend upon a sex-specific gene to function properly, " Vilain said. " We've also shown that SRY plays a central role not just in the male genitals, but also in regulating the brain."

Vilain's lab used a rat model to study the effect of SRY on the brain. When the researchers lowered the level of SRY in the substantia nigra, they saw a corresponding drop in an enzyme called tyrosine hydroxylase, which plays a key role in the brain's production of dopamine.
In a surprise finding, the drop in tyrosine hydroxylase occurred only in the male rats. The female rats remained unaffected.

" When we reduced SRY levels in the rats' brains, the male animals began experiencing the movement problems caused by insufficient dopamine," Vilain said. " Low levels of SRY triggered Parkinson's symptoms in the male rats, cutting their physical agility by half in a week.

" Initially, the rat could walk 14 steps in 10 seconds," he noted. "After we lowered the SRY levels in its brain, the rat could only manage seven steps in the same amount of time."

Vilain believes that variations in SRY levels may be linked to the onset of Parkinson's and could offer insights into who is at risk for the disease.

" SRY may serve as a protective agent against Parkinson's," he said. " Men who contract the disease may have lower levels of the gene in the brain."

Because SRY is found only in males, Vilain thinks women must possess another physiological mechanism that protects dopamine-producing cells in the substantia nigra.

" We suspect that estrogens in women could play the same role as SRY in protecting the female brain from Parkinson's disease," he said. " Our lab is currently studying this hypothesis in an animal model."

Sex differences in other dopamine-linked disorders, such as schizophrenia or addiction, may also be explained by the SRY gene, Vilain said.

" It's possible that dopamine-related disorders that reveal dramatic differences in severity and rates in the genders could depend on the SRY levels in the brain," he said.

Source: University of California - Los Angeles, 2006
 
 
 
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