ABSTRACT
A number of reports have been published dealing with the psychological characteristics of genotypic female rhesus monkeys experimentally virilized prior to birth by transplacental exposure to androgens injected into the pregnant mother. Masculine social behavior with peers was affected differently from the masculine behavior directed toward the mother. Primates appear to differ from rodent models in another important way in terms of the long-term effects of prenatal androgenization. In rodents, a reproducible consequence of androgens administered during a critical period is the establishment of an anovulatory syndrome following or concurrent with puberty. The principles describing androgenic influences on the differentiation of tissues mediating diverse behavioral patterns are strikingly similar to those describing androgenic influences on the differentiation and development of reproductive tract structures. The androgenic differentiation of Wolffian duct derivatives in genetic female rhesus has been well demonstrated in the earlier studies from van Wagenen’s laboratory.
