title: Do cortical plasticity mechanisms differ between males and females?
abstract: The difference between male and female behavior and male and female susceptibility to a number of neuropsychiatric conditions is not controversial. From a biological perspective, one might expect to see at least some of these differences underpinned by identifiable physical differences in the brain. This Mini-Review focuses on evidence that plasticity mechanisms differ between males and females and ask at what scale of organization the differences might exist, at the systems level, the circuits level, or the synaptic level. Emerging evidence suggests that plasticity differences may extend to the scale of synaptic mechanisms. In particular, the CaMKK, NOS1 and estrogen receptor pathways show sexual dimorphisms with implications for plasticity in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Neuroscience Research Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dachtler
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2563-112X
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fox
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics
keywords: CaMKK; NOS1; cerebral cortex; estrogen receptor; hippocampus; neuropsychiatric conditions