Fetal androgens

Bloch, E., Lew, M. and Klein, M. (1971). Studies on the inhibition of fetal androgen formation. Inhibition of testosterone synthesis in rat and rabbit fetal testes with observations on reproductive tract development. Endocrinology 89 16-31. 

Table 1 Sites of androgen and oestrogen reeeptors and aromatase aetivity in the testis and assoeiated duets during fetal/perinatal life in the rat ...

Surges in testosterone and other androgenic steroids during critical periods in fetal development are known... 

A female-specific 15(3 hydroxylase acts on steroid sulfates such as corticosterone sulfate and forms the major urinary excretion product of that hormone in female rats.292 These sex-specific differences in enzymes are thought to be related to secretions of growth hormone that are in turn controlled by the "programming" of the hypothalamus by androgen during the neonatal period in rats272 or during human fetal development. 

The wealth of information in animals administered DEHP for periods ranging from a few days to lifetime studies indicate that DEHP is a developmental and reproductive toxicant by mechanisms not yet completely understood. As discussed below, the mechanisms do not appear to involve binding of DEHP to the estrogen or androgen receptors. DEHP administered perinatally to females is embryotoxic and teratogenic (reduced fetal body weight, increased rates of abortion and fetal resorptions, skeletal... 

As well reviewed elsewhere [2], the control exerted by 5a-reduced steroids on erythropoiesis is best explained by transcriptional control of the erythropoietin gene. Certainly, such androgens are actively concentrated in the nuclear chromatin of bone marrow, both in vivo and in vitro. By contrast, the situation is entirely different with respect to 5/3-reduced steroids. In the embryonic and fetal organs of many animals, aetiocholanolone or 5/3-DHT regulate the appearance of a 5 cap-recognition protein, without which the translation of the mRNAs for haemoglobin E (embry-... 

Why does a deficiency of 21-hydroxylase result in increased fetal synthesis of androgens ... 

In addition to the classical tests usually applied for the assay of androgenic and anabolic activities, another method is reported by the same workers for the evaluation of androgenic properties of progestational compounds in the rat by the female fetal masculinization test [201]. It should be pointed out that inversion of configuration at C-10 does not necessarily bring about abolition of androgenic activity, in view of the new theory, as will be seen later. 

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