Androgens in relation to prenatal development and postnatal inversion of the gubernacula in rats.
Exposure of male rats to the anti-androgen flutamide during fetal life, from day 10 after conception to the day of birth, allowed quantitatively unaltered development of the gubernacula. Apparently, androgens play no important role or no role at all in their growth. Castration of newborn male rats did not interfere with the inversion during further postnatal life of the gubernacula to create the muscular parts of the scrotum (cremaster muscles). Prenatal exposure to flutamide, followed by castration immediately after birth, also allowed gubernacular inversion and cremaster muscle growth. Neonatal administration of testosterone, after castration at birth, did not enhance gubernacular inversion or promote cremaster muscle growth in infancy or during adulthood. Apparently, postnatal gubernacular inversion and cremaster muscle growth are independent not only of androgens, but also of all testis hormones. Neonatal administration of the potent androgen 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone propionate suppressed gonadotrophin secretion and, in intact males, inhibited testicular growth. Administration from the day of birth to day 33 delayed testicular descent and enhanced growth of the genital apparatus, but did not affect the size of the cremaster muscles. These experiments indicate that androgens are not involved in the processes that create the cavities into which testes descend to acquire their full reproductive potential.
van der Schoot
P
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Department of Endocrinology and Reproduction, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
D000728:Androgens / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D013196:Dihydrotestosterone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D005485:Flutamide / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D024510:Muscle Development; D009132:Muscles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects; D009919:Orchiectomy; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012611:Scrotum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D013737:Testis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000196:embryology* / Q000254:growth & development
D000728:Androgens; D013196:Dihydrotestosterone; D005485:Flutamide; C030445:dihydrotestosterone propionate