[Avian anti-müllerian hormone and testosterone (author's transl)].

The twofold question has been examined whether testosterone would cause regression of the müllerian ducts and whether this androgen would be secreted by the testes of the chick embryo. Neither did müllerian ducts from 8-day-old male embryos regress when cultured in vitro in a 10 microliter volume of a muM testosterone suspension nor could testosterone synthesis from 14C-labelled progesterone or dehydroepiandrosterone be established. Thus, it seems difficult to maintain, that testosterone could be identical with the anti-müllerian hormone. Transfilter experiments show that the active principle has a molecular weight greater than 1000, therefore, that it cannot be a steroid. As a working hypothesis, it is suggested that it is a polypeptide.