Reproduction Abstracts

Analgesics which work through altering the production and/or actions of prostaglandins (PGs) are widely used by pregnant women. In earlier research, the analgesics in maternal blood circulation can target cyclooxygenase-2 and PGE2 receptors in fetal germ cells (GC), affect the next generation. Both sexes of F1 rats exposed to analgesic in utero showed reduced germ cell (GC) number in gonads at the fetal stage, and reduced ovarian oocyte reserve in adult stage and/or i...

Introduction: Adult male testosterone levels are influenced by fetal events, but how is unknown, as adult Leydig cells (ALC) do not differentiate until puberty. We hypothesised that adult Leydig stem cells are present in the fetal testis, and are susceptible to programming by fetal androgen exposure. We have shown that ALC derive from interstitial cells that express chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription-factor II, essential postnatally for ALC development, and andr...