Development of Endocrine Function in the Human Placenta and Fetus

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Abstract
GoandsThe fetal gonads develop from proliferating coelomic epithelium as did the fetal adrenal glands (Table 1). Longitudinal ridges, the gonadal ridges, develop on each side of the midline on the medial surface of the mesonephros between the mesonephros and dorsal mesentery. At four weeks of age these ridges are first apparent and are situated just posterior to the developing fetal adrenal cortex. The remarkable similarity of steroid metabolism in the gonads and adrenal glands is not so surprising when one considers the proximity of the primordial cells from which these glands develop. There are no germ cells in the . . .