Besides overall differences in brain volume, there are specific areas of the brain which show differences in male and female adolescents and adults. It would seem logical that these may be areas that contain significant populations of sex steroid receptors. Estrogen, androgen, and progesterone receptors are all found in the hypothalamus, consistent with its central role in the control of sexual and reproductive function (Cameron, 2001). Many of the areas with strong connections to the hypothalamus also contain dense numbers of one or more of the sex steroid receptors. Prominent among these regions are the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and parts of the nucleus of the solitary tract and parabrachial nucleus. Other regions observed to contain sex steroid receptors include the basal ganglia, hippocampus, and cerebellum (Goldstein et al., 2001; Simerly, Chang, Muramatsu, & Swanson, 1990).
