Sexual differentiation of the brain takes place during a perinatal-sensitive time window as a result of
gonadal hormone-induced activational and organizational effects on neuronal substrates. Increasing
evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms can contribute to the establishment and maintenance of
some aspects of these processes, and that these epigenetic mechanisms may themselves be under the
control of sex hormones. Epigenetic programming of neuroendocrine and behavioral phenotypes
frequently occurs sex specifically, pointing to sex differences in brain epigenetics as a possible determinant.
Understanding how sex-specific epigenomes and sex-biased responses to environmental cues contribute
to the development of brain diseases might provide new insights for epigenetic therapy.