Reproduction Abstracts

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...

Alterations in the fetal environment can alter lifetime risk of certain diseases. This also applies to reproductive function/disorders in adulthood, and we have shown that fetal androgens play a pivotal time-specific role in this regard in males.One interpretation of the ‘fetal reprogramming’ changes that can result in adult metabolic dysfunction is that it represents an adaptive change that better fits the fetus for life after birth. As our ev...

Introduction: Tamoxifen inducible Cre systems have been used to study development specific roles of genes in the testis as they allow tight temporal control of genetic manipulation. However, tamoxifen is an anti-estrogen that competitively binds estrogen receptors. Despite the antagonistic properties of tamoxifen, it also acts as a weak estrogen agonist, hence exerting estrogenic effects in a tissue and cell specific manner. Given the duality of tamoxifen function and the impo...

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...