Hormonal control of sex differences in ultrasound production by hamsters

Male and female hamsters differ in the stimulus control of the ultrasounds they produce during courtship and mating. In particular, untreated males show greater increases in ultrasound rate after exposure to stimulus females than after contact with other males. Conversely, estrous females are more responsive to stimulus males than females. This sex difference reflects both organizational and activational effects of gonadal hormones. Thus, responses to early castration or treatment with testosterone propionate (TP), estradiol benzoate (EB), or dihydrotestosterone propionate suggest that the development of male-like patterns of ultrasound production is facilitated by perinatal exposure to aromatizable androgen. However, even neonatally feminized subjects will show male-like calling if tested during adult treatment with TP. In contrast, the same subjects respond like naturally estrous females during adult treatment with EB plus progesterone (P). The contrasting responses of neonatally feminized subjects to later TP and EB + P treatments suggest that female hamsters retain a greater capacity for heterotypical patterns of ultrasound production than do males. This obviously differs from the common observation of greater "bipotentiality" for mating behavior in males. In turn, this suggests that the mechanisms controlling sexual bipotentiality are specific to their target behaviors, yielding distinct patterns of hormonal control for at least ultrasound production and lordosis.