Serological H-Y antigen in the female chicken occurs during gonadal differentiation.
In the chicken, serological H-Y antigen is specific for the female sex. Male gonad differentiation can be experimentally influenced by estrogens, resulting in the transient formation of an ovotestis. The sex-inverted gonad becomes positive for H-Y antigen. Therefore, the question arises whether, in normal gonadogenesis also, the female gonad at the indifferent stage, before estrogens are produced, is negative for H-Y antigen. Here we show that this is indeed the case. The female gonad becomes positive for H-Y antigen when the ovary starts its organotypic differentiation at about day 6 1/2 of embryonal development. It is assumed that estrogens are responsible for the occurrence of H-Y antigen. This finding supports the view that H-Y antigen plays a role in primary ovogenesis in the chicken.
Institut für Humangenetik und Anthropologie der Universität, Freiburg im Breisgau, Federal Republic of Germany.
C
C
Ebensperger
U
U
Drews
A
A
Mayerová
U
U
Wolf
D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006182:H-Y Antigen / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D010053:Ovary / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000276:immunology; D012733:Sex Differentiation
D006182:H-Y Antigen