Lephart E D, Fleming D E, Rhees R W
Department of Physiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas 75235.
Dev Psychobiol. 1989 Nov;22(7):707-16. doi: 10.1002/dev.420220705.
The present experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that males in utero masculinize the development of other males. This effect was examined during fetal development in males from control and prenatally stressed rats. A code identified the number of cervical-flanking males between the target male and the cervical end of the uterus. The male parameters morphology (anogenital distance) and body, adrenal, and testis weights were recorded on the eighteenth and twentieth gestational days and categorized by the cervical-flanking male classification. At Day 18, control fetuses with two cervical-flanking males in utero displayed significantly greater anogenital distance values than did males with no cervical-flanking male. At Day 20, control fetuses with two cervical-flanking males had testicular weights significantly greater than those of fetuses with one or zero cervical positioned male. Prenatal stress markedly impaired male fetal development at gestational Days 18 and 20 while suppressing the cervical-flanking male effect. These results confirm and extend previous data that indicate: (a) prenatal stress disrupts normal fetal development, resulting in long-term changes; and (b) androgens via a cervical-flanking blood-flow mechanism influence littermate morphology and sexual development during the prenatal period. Our findings also demonstrate that a general masculinizing effect could not be made across the measured male parameters since the effect of males positioned at the cervical-flanking region in utero appears to be dependent upon maternal sources of variance. Finally, androgens prenatally have an apparent positive interaction with somatic growth.
本实验旨在验证子宫内的雄性会使其他雄性的发育男性化这一假设。在对照大鼠和产前应激大鼠的雄性胎儿发育过程中研究了这种效应。一个编码确定了目标雄性与子宫颈部末端之间颈部两侧雄性的数量。在妊娠第18天和第20天记录雄性参数形态（肛门生殖器距离）以及身体、肾上腺和睾丸重量，并根据颈部两侧雄性分类进行归类。在第18天，子宫内有两个颈部两侧雄性的对照胎儿的肛门生殖器距离值显著大于没有颈部两侧雄性的胎儿。在第20天，有两个颈部两侧雄性的对照胎儿的睾丸重量显著大于有一个或没有颈部两侧雄性的胎儿。产前应激在妊娠第18天和第20天显著损害雄性胎儿发育，同时抑制颈部两侧雄性效应。这些结果证实并扩展了先前的数据，表明：（a）产前应激会扰乱正常胎儿发育，导致长期变化；（b）雄激素通过颈部两侧血流机制在产前影响同窝仔的形态和性发育。我们的研究结果还表明，由于子宫内位于颈部两侧区域的雄性的效应似乎取决于母体变异来源，因此无法在测量的雄性参数上产生普遍的男性化效应。最后，产前雄激素与体细胞生长存在明显的正相互作用。
