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Effects of Postnatal Exposure to Alcohol on Reproductive Physiology and Sexually Dimorphic Behavior in a Marsupial, The Gray Short‐Tailed Opossum ( Monodelphis domestica )
Author(s) -
Fadem Barbara H.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1993.tb00856.x
Subject(s) - monodelphis domestica , marsupial , sexual dimorphism , opossum , biology , physiology , testosterone (patch) , aromatase , endocrinology , sex pheromone , medicine , zoology , anatomy , genetics , cancer , breast cancer
The effects of postnatal exposure to alcohol on reproductive physiology and sexually dimorphic behavior and anatomy in adult male and female gray short‐tailed opossurns were examined. Female responsiveness to male pheromones and fertility in both sexes were essentially normal in postnatally alcohol‐treated animals. However, aspects of sexually dimorphic behavior were masculinized and defeminized in females and demasculinized in males following gonadectomy in adulthood and treatment with male (testosterone) or female (estradiol) hormones. The possible role of alterations in neural aromatase activity by perinatal alcohol exposure in mediating these behavioral effects and the potential use of this marsupial species in perinatal alcohol studies are discussed.