vom Saal F S, Bronson F H
Science. 1980 May 9;208(4444):597-9. doi: 10.1126/science.7367881.
Mice produce litters containing many pups, and the female fetuses that develop between male fetuses have significantly higher concentrations of the male sex steroid testosterone in both their blood and amniotic fluid than do females that develop between other female fetuses. These two types of females differ during later life in many sexually related characteristics. Thus, individual variation in sexual characteristics of adult female mice may be traceable to differential exposure to testosterone during prenatal development because of intrauterine proximity to male fetuses.
小鼠产仔时一窝中有许多幼崽,在雄性胎儿之间发育的雌性胎儿,其血液和羊水中雄性类固醇睾酮的浓度显著高于在其他雌性胎儿之间发育的雌性胎儿。这两种类型的雌性在以后的生活中有许多与性别相关的特征差异。因此,成年雌性小鼠性别特征的个体差异可能可追溯到产前发育期间因子宫内靠近雄性胎儿而导致的睾酮暴露差异。