PSL300H1 Lecture Notes - Sexual Differentiation, Epididymis, Seminal Vesicle
Document Summary
Somatic cells contain 46 chromosomes: meiosis reduces number to 23 chromosomes, female ovary, male testis. At 6 weeks the fetus has bipotential primordium and rudimentary male and female reproductive tracts: mullerian duct -> fallopian tube, uterus, upper vagina, wolffian duct -> epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicle. Y chromosome has sry gene that promotes testes development: altered y chromosome lacks sry gene, codes for a gene regulatory protein (transcription factor. Secrete testosterone (controls development of wolffian duct into. Testosterone converted to dht with 5a reductase which controls the. Sry gene protein in a male embryo directs the medulla of the bipotential gonad. Anti mullerian hormone from testis causes the mullerian ducts to degenerate. Testosterone from testis converts wolffian duct into seminal vesicle, vas deferens. Testes descend from the abdominal cavity into the scrotum. Females: have rspo -> wnt4 beta catenin (grp that suppresses sox9 expression, no amh or testosterone. Gonadal cortex becomes ovary in the absence of sry protein.