Sex Differences in Brain Epigenetics

Abstract

Sexual differentiation of the brain takes place during a perinatal-sensitive time window as a result of gonadal hormone-induced activational and organizational effects on neuronal substrates. Increasing evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms can contribute to the establishment and maintenance of some aspects of these processes, and that these epigenetic mechanisms may themselves be under the control of sex hormones. Epigenetic programming of neuroendocrine and behavioral phenotypes frequently occurs sex specifically, pointing to sex differences in brain epigenetics as a possible determinant. Understanding how sex-specific epigenomes and sex-biased responses to environmental cues contribute to the development of brain diseases might provide new insights for epigenetic therapy.

KEYWORDS::

• brain
• epigenetics
• epigenetic therapy
• mental disease
• sex differences

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was funded by the European Union (CRESCENDO – European Union contract number LSHM-CT-2005-018652) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SP 386/4-2 to Dietmar Spengler). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the European Union (CRESCENDO – European Union contract number LSHM-CT-2005-018652) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SP 386/4-2 to Dietmar Spengler). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.