ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role of aromatase in brain development. To understand the developmental role of estrogen formation within the brain as a dynamic process, it is necessary to relate aromatase activity in individual androgen target areas of the brain to steroid-dependent developmental changes in brain structures. Both genetic and hormonal factors are involved in the sexual differentiation of the brain. Views on the developmental actions of hormones on mammalian brain development and behavior are derived from embryological work. There are several stages in sexual development from an undifferentiated primordium common to genetic males and females. A role for the brain aromatase system has been suggested in the sexual differentiation of both the hippocampus and neocortex. Aromatase activity in cultured cells and microdissected brain samples taken from the developing hypothalamus provide a sensitive measurement in trying to establish sexual dimorphisms, and whether there are changes in enzyme expression during development.
