Effects of the gender factor and neonatal androgenization on the dendroarchitectonics of neurons in the dorsomedial nucleus of the amygdaloid body of the brain.

The aim of the present work was to identify gender-related differences in the dendroarchitectonics of neurons in the dorsomedial nucleus of the amygdaloid body and the role of androgens in their formation during period of sexual differentiation of the brain in rats. Studies using the Golgi method showed that the quantitative characteristics of long-axon sparsely branched neurons of all classes - neuroblast-like, short-dendrite, and reticular - reflected the influences of gender. In particular, long-axon sparsely branched neurons were found to have more abundant branching primary dendrites and greater total dendrite lengths in adult males than in females. Adult females subjected to neonatal androgenization by administration of testosterone propionate at a dose of 1250 microg showed different neuron characteristics five days after birth as compared with normal females, and these were more marked than in males.