T2 L12 Sexual Differentiation Flashcards
What is the prevalence of genital abnormalities?
1 in 4500
What are the 3 main events involved in making a boy/girl?
1) Sex determination during fertilisation
2) Differentiation of gonads in week 5
3) Differentiation of internal and external genital organs after week 5
When is sex determined?
At fertilisation
What determines sex?
Inheritance of X/Y from father
What happens at week 2?
Primordial germ cells arise from the epiblast
What happens to the primordial germ cells?
They migrate to the yolk sac stalk to avoid becoming imprinted
Later return, travelling to genital ridge (next to kidney) and become indifferent gonad
What happens to PGC at the genital ridge?
XX PGCs replicate at the cortex
XY PGCs replicate at the medulla
What does gonad gender decision rely on?
Genetic switches
Hormones
What are the 3 types of genetic switches?
General transcription factors (Wt1, Sf1)
Specific promoters of testis development (Sry, Sox9)
Specific promoters of ovarian development (Wnt-4, FoxL2)
Describe the fate of female PGCs
Female PGCs become oogonia
Describe the fate of sex cord cells
Become granulose which support and nitrify ovum
Describe the fate of the cortex
Become layer of theca cells to secrete androgens before those generated by the follicles
Describe the fate of male PGCs
Become spermatogonia
What does AMH do?
Suppresses female development pathway
Induce cells in intermediate mesoderm to become leydig which then secrete testosterone
Where is the origin of kidney development?
Intermediate mesoderm (reproductive organs also develop here)
Where do the kidneys develop from?
Between somites and lateral plate (each side of aorta)
What are the 3 stages of kidney development?
1) Pronephros
2) Mesonephros
3) Metanephros
What are the 2 sets of paired ducts possessed by embryos of both sexes?
Paramesonephric - Mullerian
Mesonephric - Wolffian
What does the Mullerian duct become in the female embryo?
Oviduct
Uterus
Cervix
Upper part of vagina
What promotes Wolffian duct differentiation in the male?
Epididymis
Vas deferens
Seminal vesicle