What is it about?
Sexual differentiation is attributed to either sex hormones or sex chromosomes. Using MRI and radiation therapy, we use a mouse model that decouples the sex-determining region, SRY, from the Y chromosome to investigate how these factors shape brain development and disease. Our findings reveal novel roles of sex chromosomes and hormones in healthy brain development and radiation response.
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Why is it important?
Biological sex significantly affects how the brain develops and how it responds to diseases, which can have important implications for medical treatment. These differences in brain development may help explain why certain neurodevelopmental disorders are more common or show up differently in males and females. However, we still don't fully understand how these factors influence brain development and how the brain responds to injury.
Perspectives
This study is perhaps the most detailed imaging study ever done with this mouse model, involving over 1,000 high-resolution MRI scans. The findings are surprising: having either just the male chromosome or just the male hormone leads to a better response to radiation treatment than when both are present together.
Jonas Yeung
University of Toronto
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Sex chromosomes and hormones independently influence healthy brain development but act similarly after cranial radiation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August 2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2404042121.
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