Discussions of the role of testosterone and estrogen in triggering "typical" male and female behavior peppered the routines of untold numbers of 1980s comedians. It may be beyond the realm of medical science to reanimate the career of Sinbad ("Women be different than men!"). But researchers at UC San Francisco have looked into the surprising role estrogen plays in aggression.
And, they've found, that women not be so different than men.
In both male and female mice in which neurons that produce estrogen were disabled, many tenets of normal rodent life continued. The creatures demarked their territory with copious streams of urine, as is normal, and bred prodigiously — as is also normal.
But they brawled less. Both male and female mice in the experiment took far longer to launch into violent attacks than normal mice.
Once the fighting started, however, the gloves were off. Even after being tampered with, the mice in question — a male whose urine-forged boundaries were transgressed or a nursing female — fought with all the lethal vigor one could expect from a peeved rodent.
UCSF researchers have, it would seem, pinpointed the connection between these neurons and a specific behavioral component. As for the notion of estrogen-riddled individuals launching into a vituperative attack after a lengthy waiting period — that's best left to the comedians of yore.
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