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Review

Sexual Differentiation

In: Endotext [Internet]. South Dartmouth (MA): MDText.com, Inc.; 2000.
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Review

Sexual Differentiation

Rodolfo Ray et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

The chromosomal sex of the embryo is established at fertilization. However, 6 weeks elapse in humans before the first signs of sex differentiation are noticed. Sex differentiation involves a series of events whereby the sexually indifferent gonads and genitalia progressively acquire male or female characteristics. Believed initially to be governed entirely by the presence or absence of the SRY gene on the Y chromosome, gonadal differentiation has proven to rely on a complex networks of genes, whose balanced expression levels either activate the testis pathway and simultaneously repress the ovarian pathway or vice versa. The presence or absence of primordial germ cells, of extragonadal origin, also has a sexually dimorphic relevance. Subsequently, internal and external genitalia will follow the male pathway in the presence of androgens and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), or the female pathway in their absence. Here we review the sexually undifferentiated stage of embryonic development, and the anatomic, histologic, physiologic, and molecular aspects of the fetal sexual differentiation of the gonads, the internal reproductive tract and the external genitalia. For complete coverage of all related areas of Endocrinology, please visit our on-line FREE web-text, WWW.ENDOTEXT.ORG.

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