Blockade of Masculine Differentiation in Male Rat Fetuses by Maternal Injection of Antibodies to Testosterone-3-Bovine Serum Albumin
- 1 March 1972
- journal article
- other
- Published by The Endocrine Society in Endocrinology
- Vol. 90 (3) , 716-721
- https://doi.org/10.1210/endo-90-3-716
Abstract
Rabbit antiserum to testosterone-3-bovine albumin was injected into pregnant rats from the 13th to the 20th days of gestation in order to test the hypothesis that testosterone may be the organizer of masculine differentiation in the male fetus. The reactivity of the antiserum was limited to testosterone with a 28% crossreactivity to 5α-androstan-17βol-3-one. Experimental male fetuses had a significant reduction of anogenital distance and of testicular weight. Testes of experimental males incubated in vitro with progesterone 1,2-3H and cofactors produced significantly more testosterone 1,2-3H with less residual progesterone 1,2-3H and androstenedione 1,2-3H than did those of control males. These results suggest that in rats, testosterone antiserum is capable of preventing testicular growth and masculine differentiation of the anogenital area inutero and thereby support the proposed hypothesis. The increase in testicular testosterone biosynthesis may be explained by reflex stimulation of the fetal pituitary-gonadal axis produced by an antiseruminduced drop in circulating level of testosterone. (Endocrinology90: 716, 1972)This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: