Perinatal period and adolescence are critical for brain development, which is the biological basis of an individual's sexual orientation and sexual behavior. In this study, animals were divided into two groups and their sexual orientations were observed: one group experienced drug treatments during the perinatal period, and the other group was castrated at puberty. The results showed that estradiol treatment had no effect on mature male offspring's sexual orientations, but 9 days and 14 days of clomiphene citrate treatment significantly increased the chance of homosexuality and effeminized behavior. In addition, the sexual orientation of mature normal male offspring, which were castrated when they were 21 days old,was not significant different from the control animals. These findings suggest that the inhibition of perinatal estrogen activities could suppress individual male-typical responses, enhance female-typical responses and induce homosexual orientations. Moreover, the masculinizing effects of estrogen were more obvious during perinatal period than adolescence.
由于体内激素水平的变化,围产期和青春期是决定动物大脑发育的关键和敏感时期,而大脑发育是成年动物性取向行为的生物基础。该研究根据这一假说,对实验动物分别于围产期给予药物处理或于青春期予以阉割,并观察其个体成年后的性取向行为。结果显示,围产期克罗米酚(clomiphene citrate)处理9 d(分娩前3天到生育后6天)和14 d(分娩前7天到生育后7天)组,雄性后代的同性取向和雌性化行为明显增多,而正常生长状态下的21日龄雄性后代经阉割后,其性取向无明显改变。即围产期抑制雌激素,可导致雄性小鼠大脑雌性化,产生同性取向,且围产期雌激素对动物雄性化的影响较青春期更为明显。
Keywords: Castration; Clomiphene citrate sodium citrate; Estradiol; Perinatal; Sexual orientation.