Critical Periods of Neurogenesis During Male to Female Sex Change in Clownfish

Craig, Sarah

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114210 Copy

Description

Title

Critical Periods of Neurogenesis During Male to Female Sex Change in Clownfish

Author(s)

Craig, Sarah

Contributor(s)

Rhodes, Justin

Issue Date

2022

Keyword(s)

Psychology

Abstract

Clownfish change sex from male to female as a normal part of their life history. This process involves a complete reorganization of the brain, behavior, morphology, sex hormone expression, and gonadal composition. Previous research suggested that during the process of sex change, more neurons appear in a part of the brain that controls the gonads, the preoptic area of the hypothalamus (POA), before the gonads change their composition and release female sex hormones. For my senior honors thesis, I conducted an experiment to identify the time course for neurogenesis and to determine whether there is a critical period for proliferation and survival of new neurons in the POA during the course of sex change. Outlined in pink is the POA of a clownfish in the midst of changing sex. Black dots indicate new cells appearing after the fish began to change sex, while the blue dots are pre-existing cells. Humans show a similar sexual dimorphism but the increase in neurons occurs during embryogenesis and has no known trigger. The clownfish may help uncover the mystery of how brain feminization unfolds without guidance from sex hormones.

Type of Resource

• Text
• Image

Language

eng

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/114210

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Sarah Craig

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