Molecular and genetic characterization of partial masculinization in embryonic ovaries grafted into male nude mice.

ABSTRACT: In most of mammalian embryos, gonadal sex differentiation occurs inside the maternal uterus before birth. In several fetal ovarian grafting experiments using male host mice, an experimental switch from the maternal intrauterine to male-host environment gradually induces partial masculinization of the grafted ovaries even under the wild-type genotype. However, either host-derived factors causing or molecular basis underlying this masculinization of the fetal ovaries are not clear. Here, we demonstrate that ectopic appearance of SOX9-positive Sertoli cell-like cells in grafted ovaries was mediated by the testosterone derived from the male host. Neither Sox8 nor Amh activity in the ovarian tissues is essential for such ectopic appearance of SOX9-positive cells. The transcriptome analyses of t

SUBMITTER: Miura K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6402656 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature