Sex, Gender, Drugs, and the Brain
http://www.100md.com
内分泌学杂志 2005年第4期
Department of Pharmacological Sciences, The State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794-8651; and Society for Women’s Health Research (S.A.M.), Washington, D.C. 20036
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Jeffrey Pessin, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, The State University of New York at Stony Brook, BST-8, Room 140, Stony Brook, New York 11794-8651. E-mail: pessin@pharm.sunysb.edu.
In 2001, the institute of Medicine (IOM) report Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health: Does Sex Matter? (1) confirmed what most biomedical researchers have always known: males and females are different. The report then took the next step, identifying the study of sex differences as a valuable area of research that is maturing beyond the stage of simply observing and reporting differences. The report called for more hypothesis-driven research on sex differences, in humans and in model organisms, throughout the lifespan and at all levels of biological organization, from genes to behavior. The authors note that progress in sex-based biology will require "synergy... between and among basic scientists, epidemiologists, social scientists, and clinical researchers." What the report failed to do was provide investigators with guidelines for conducting research on sex differences.
The study of sex differences poses unique methodological and strategic challenges, because males and females differ in many ways. In this issue, Endocrinology makes a significant contribution to overcoming those challenges. "Strategies and Methods for Research on Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior" (2) is the first article of its kind published in this journal. Adding to its uniqueness is the way in which its authors met and decided to produce such a document.
The authors are members of an interdisciplinary research network gathered by the Society for Women’s Health Research and funded by the Society’s Isis Fund for Sex Differences Research. The Society has worked to promote sex differences research since 1995 and recognized early in its efforts that progress in sex-based biology will require collaboration across research disciplines and medical specialties and among all research approaches, from molecular biology to epidemiology. The Isis Network on Sex, Gender, Drugs, and the Brain was established with an unrestricted educational grant from Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical to foster basic and clinical interdisciplinary research on sex differences. Modeled after the MacArthur Foundation networks in mental health, the Isis Fund networks comprise senior investigators selected by Society staff who meet on a quarterly basis and collaborate on research plans, pilot projects, and writing and dissemination efforts, including this review.
"Strategies and Methods for Research on Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior" (2) is intended to inform and encourage investigators who have limited their efforts to one sex. Investigators are frequently concerned that adding the additional variable of sex to a study will add greater complications than are justified by the potential data. On the other hand, when scientists only investigate how the brain works in one sex, a complete understanding of the neural mechanisms involved in a particular function cannot be gained. A full understanding of sex differences requires the integration of research findings from studies at the cellular level, in animals and in human subjects. It requires that investigators from all areas of biomedical research incorporate hypothesis-driven studies of sex differences into their research programs. Scientific inquiry into sex differences at the system, organ, tissue, cellular, subcellular, and genetic levels has the potential to revolutionize the way in which we understand the biology of higher organisms.
Received February 15, 2005.
Accepted for publication February 15, 2005.
References
Wizemann TM, Pardue ML 2001 Exploring the biological contributions to human health: does sex matter? Washington, DC: National Academy Press
Becker JB, Arnold AP, Berkley KJ, Blaustein JD, Eckel LA, Hampson E, Herman JP, Marts S, Sadee W, Steiner M, Taylor J, Young E 2005 Strategies and methods for research on sex differences in brain and behavior. Endocrinology 146:1650–1673(Jeffrey Pessin and Sherry)
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Jeffrey Pessin, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, The State University of New York at Stony Brook, BST-8, Room 140, Stony Brook, New York 11794-8651. E-mail: pessin@pharm.sunysb.edu.
In 2001, the institute of Medicine (IOM) report Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health: Does Sex Matter? (1) confirmed what most biomedical researchers have always known: males and females are different. The report then took the next step, identifying the study of sex differences as a valuable area of research that is maturing beyond the stage of simply observing and reporting differences. The report called for more hypothesis-driven research on sex differences, in humans and in model organisms, throughout the lifespan and at all levels of biological organization, from genes to behavior. The authors note that progress in sex-based biology will require "synergy... between and among basic scientists, epidemiologists, social scientists, and clinical researchers." What the report failed to do was provide investigators with guidelines for conducting research on sex differences.
The study of sex differences poses unique methodological and strategic challenges, because males and females differ in many ways. In this issue, Endocrinology makes a significant contribution to overcoming those challenges. "Strategies and Methods for Research on Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior" (2) is the first article of its kind published in this journal. Adding to its uniqueness is the way in which its authors met and decided to produce such a document.
The authors are members of an interdisciplinary research network gathered by the Society for Women’s Health Research and funded by the Society’s Isis Fund for Sex Differences Research. The Society has worked to promote sex differences research since 1995 and recognized early in its efforts that progress in sex-based biology will require collaboration across research disciplines and medical specialties and among all research approaches, from molecular biology to epidemiology. The Isis Network on Sex, Gender, Drugs, and the Brain was established with an unrestricted educational grant from Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical to foster basic and clinical interdisciplinary research on sex differences. Modeled after the MacArthur Foundation networks in mental health, the Isis Fund networks comprise senior investigators selected by Society staff who meet on a quarterly basis and collaborate on research plans, pilot projects, and writing and dissemination efforts, including this review.
"Strategies and Methods for Research on Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior" (2) is intended to inform and encourage investigators who have limited their efforts to one sex. Investigators are frequently concerned that adding the additional variable of sex to a study will add greater complications than are justified by the potential data. On the other hand, when scientists only investigate how the brain works in one sex, a complete understanding of the neural mechanisms involved in a particular function cannot be gained. A full understanding of sex differences requires the integration of research findings from studies at the cellular level, in animals and in human subjects. It requires that investigators from all areas of biomedical research incorporate hypothesis-driven studies of sex differences into their research programs. Scientific inquiry into sex differences at the system, organ, tissue, cellular, subcellular, and genetic levels has the potential to revolutionize the way in which we understand the biology of higher organisms.
Received February 15, 2005.
Accepted for publication February 15, 2005.
References
Wizemann TM, Pardue ML 2001 Exploring the biological contributions to human health: does sex matter? Washington, DC: National Academy Press
Becker JB, Arnold AP, Berkley KJ, Blaustein JD, Eckel LA, Hampson E, Herman JP, Marts S, Sadee W, Steiner M, Taylor J, Young E 2005 Strategies and methods for research on sex differences in brain and behavior. Endocrinology 146:1650–1673(Jeffrey Pessin and Sherry)