The androgens in the guinea-pig foetus throughout the embryonic development
Rigaudière, N.
Acta Endocrinologica 92(1): 174-186
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-5598 PMID: 494985 Document Number: 149629
Testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) content and concentration were measured by radioimmunoassay in plasma, gonads, adrenals and sexual ducts of 235 male and 214 female guinea-pig fetuses at various stages of gestation after gonadal and adrenal differentiation occurred. In the male fetus, a sharp increase in the content and concentration of T and, to a lesser degree of DHT, is observed in the testis, the plasma and the ducts at the time of sexual differentiation from days 28-36. Thereafter androgen concentrations of these tissues decrease and rise again after day 52. In the female fetus, levels of T and DHT in the ovary are low throughout fetal life and do not account for the relatively high concentrations found in the plasma; in sexual ducts, T concentrations decrease at the time of differentiation. DHT levels are low at every stage. In both sexes, T and DHT are present at the adrenal. No sexual dimorphism is observed in the evolution of T and DHT adrenal content and concentration.