Effects of perinatal androstenedione on sexual differentiation in female rats.

Androstenedione was administered prenatally, postnatally, postnatally, or both pre-and postnatally to female rats. The extent to which reproductive morphology, ovarian functioning, and adult sexual behavior were masculinized and defeminized depended on the dosage, timing, and duration of the hormone treatment. The combined pre-plus postnatal treatment resulted in the greatest degree of modification in that such females were anatomically masculinized and did not ovulate. When tested in adulthood, they showed a high potential for the male copulatory pattern and little lordotic behavior. It is concluded that androstenedione, while not as potent an androgen as testosterone propionate, nevertheless has the potential to participate in the process of sexual differentiation.