Published in

National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 17(106), p. 7203-7208, 2009

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0902253106

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Müllerian inhibiting substance contributes to sex-linked biases in the brain and behavior

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Many behavioral traits and most brain disorders are common to males and females but are more evident in one sex than the other. The control of these subtle sex-linked biases is largely unstudied and has been presumed to mirror that of the highly dimorphic reproductive nuclei. Sexual dimorphism in the reproductive tract is a product of Müllerian inhibiting substance (MIS), as well as the sex steroids. Males with a genetic deficiency in MIS signaling are sexually males, leading to the presumption that MIS is not a neural regulator. We challenge this presumption by reporting that most immature neurons in mice express the MIS-specific receptor (MISRII) and that male Mis −/− and Misrii −/− mice exhibit subtle feminization of their spinal motor neurons and of their exploratory behavior. Consequently, MIS may be a broad regulator of the subtle sex-linked biases in the nervous system.