Effect of maternal adrenocorticotropin injections on the differentiation of sexual behavior of the offspring |
| |
Authors: | F Stylianopoulou |
| |
Institution: | Department of Histology and Embryology, Athens University Medical School, Goudi, P. O. Box 14023, Athens GR11510, Greece |
| |
Abstract: | Male and female rats were prenatally exposed to high levels of corticosteroids, by treatment of their mothers with ACTH, during the last third of pregnancy. In the females, treatment increased the ano-genital distance at birth, but no effect on sexual differentiation could be detected in the adult animals: They had normal cyclic reproductive function and female lordotic sexual behavior. The prenatal treatment demasculinized the males, who showed decreased ability for complete male copulatory behavior. The demasculinizing effect of prenatal corticosteroids was, however, particularly pronounced in certain litters, while not affecting others at all. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|