Critical period of androgen-inducible sex differentiation in a teleost fish, the European sea bass

Twenty-day exposures to 17α-methyltestosterone (MT) (10 mg kg-©¹ food) starting at 86 or 106 days post fertilization (DPF) resulted in a complete masculinization of sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax , as opposed to 46% females present in the controls. Earlier exposures failed to suppress ovarian development, resulting in a variable number of females (range 10·5–49·5%). All treatments assayed between 110 and 210 DPF induced a complete masculinization, regardless of the androgen or the dose tested. However, a dose dependent increase in the number of fish with intratesticular oocytes was observed after MT but not after 17α-methyldihydrotestosterone (MDHT) administration. This might be a reflection of the capability of MT and not of MDHT to be converted into oestradiol by the action of aromatase. One hundred-day exposures to either of the androgens (10 mg kg©¹ food) starting at 60 or 160 DPF resulted in a total suppression of ovarian development and a partial induction of sterility. Complete sterility was accomplished after 200 days of exposure starting at early ontogenesis (60–260 DPF). These deleterious effects on gonadal development were later confirmed by a dramatic reduction of the gonadosomatic index. In addition, around the first year of age, growth was significantly depressed in all groups except those for which treatments started at the latest (160–260 DPF; experiment 1) or the earliest and shortest (46–66 DPF; experiment 2). Hence, the critical period of androgen-inducible masculinization is located between 96 and 126 DPF and coincides with a rapid proliferation of primordial germ cells in the sexually undifferentiated gonad.