Unuma T, Yamamoto T, Akiyama T
Biol Bull. 1999 Apr;196(2):199-204. doi: 10.2307/1542565.
Red sea urchins, 10 months old, were fed for 30 days on a casein-based diet containing progesterone, androstenedione, testosterone, estrone, or estradiol-17{beta}. The mean gonad indices of male animals in the androstenedione-and the estrone-treated groups were significantly higher than those in the control group, suggesting that these steroids promote gonadal growth in male animals. Histological observations indicated that spermatogenesis in the estrone-treated group was also promoted compared to that in the control group. In contrast, female urchins were not obviously affected by the steroid-treated diets, probably because yearling female P. depressus are not otherwise ready to carry out gametogenesis. We conclude that androstenedione, estrone, and possibly their derivatives, are involved in the reproduction of male P. depressus.
10个月大的红海胆被喂食以酪蛋白为基础、含有孕酮、雄烯二酮、睾酮、雌酮或雌二醇-17β的饲料30天。雄烯二酮处理组和雌酮处理组雄性动物的平均性腺指数显著高于对照组，表明这些类固醇促进雄性动物性腺生长。组织学观察表明，与对照组相比，雌酮处理组的精子发生也得到促进。相比之下，雌性海胆未受到类固醇处理饲料的明显影响，可能是因为一岁的雌性扁球海胆在其他方面尚未准备好进行配子发生。我们得出结论，雄烯二酮、雌酮以及可能它们的衍生物参与了雄性扁球海胆的繁殖。
