Sex hormones influence neurite outgrowth and synaptogenesis in certain hormone-dependent areas of the rat brain during neonatal development. These alterations are thought to mediate changes in brain structure and function between the sexes. Growth-associated protein 43 kDa (GAP-43) gene expression is estrogen-regulated in the adult ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and sexually dimorphic (M:F = 1.8:1) in adult cortex (CTX). Such effects intimate hormonal regulation of synaptic plasticity. To investigate the nature of these dimorphisms, the present study examined the ontogeny of expression of mRNAs encoding 3 neural-specific proteins: GAP-43, SCG10, and synaptosomal-associated protein 25 kDa (SNAP-25); and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), in the VMH and CTX; and also the effects of altering the neonatal sex hormonal milieu on the development of these adult dimorphisms. Levels of specific mRNAs in VMH and CTX were quantitated by slot-blot hybridization in rats of both sexes at different postnatal ages. To determine the involvement of neonatal sex hormones on the levels of these mRNAs, male neonatal rat pups were treated with an estrogen receptor antagonist or an aromatase inhibitor, and neonatal female pups were treated with testosterone or estrogen prior to slot-blot evaluations in adulthood. In VMH, GAP-43 mRNA levels were high on days P1 and P4 with a 3-fold decrease by day P23; in CTX, GAP-43 mRNA first increased by day P11, then fell to baseline by day P23. In VMH, SCG10 mRNA showed only small increases with time; but in CTX, there was a 5-fold drop from days P4 to P23. In VMH, SNAP-25 mRNA was low and changed only slightly; but in CTX there was a 5-fold increase between days P4 and P60. At birth, there was no sex dimorphism in either VMH or CTX, but the levels of all 3 neural-specific mRNAs were sexually dimorphic in adult CTX (M:F = 1.76 for GAP-43, 1.46 for SCG10, 1.44 for SNAP-25). GAPDH mRNA levels were regulated developmentally in VMH and CTX, but there was no sex dimorphism in either area. In male rats who received either an estrogen antagonist or aromatase inhibitor at birth, the CTX GAP-43 and SNAP-25 mRNA levels fell by 30%, to levels similar to untreated females. Conversely, in female rats, neonatal treatment with either testosterone or estrogen increased GAP-43 and SNAP-25 mRNA levels by about 30%, to levels similar to the untreated adult male. SCG10 levels did not demonstrate neonatal hormonal dependence.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)