Effects of oestrogen treatment on testicular descent, inguinal closure and prostatic development in a male marsupial, Macropus eugenii.

This study reports the effect of oestrogen treatment on the development of the genital ducts, prostate gland, testicular descent and inguinal canal closure in male tammar wallaby young treated with oestrogen over four time spans during the first 25 days of pouch life (days 0-10, 10-15, 15-25 and 0-25) and sampled at day 50. In control males, the Müllerian ducts had regressed and the Wolffian ducts had developed into the vas deferens and epididymis. The prostate gland had formed epithelial buds extending from the ventral, lateral and posterior walls of the urethra. The testes were in the neck of the scrotum and the gubernaculum and processus vaginalis were present at the base of the scrotum. In most males treated with oestradiol from day 0 to day 25, the testes had failed to descend by day 50. The gubernaculae were long and thin. The retained Müllerian ducts formed a lateral vaginal expansion like that of normal day 50 females. The Wolffian ducts of the males treated on days 0-25 were regressed, but were present in males in the other three treatment groups. The prostate glands were hyperplastic and epithelial budding was highly invasive. Some treated males from the day 10-25 and 0-25 groups had inguinal hernias. These results demonstrate that oestrogen treatment has profound effects on the development of the internal genitalia of a male marsupial, preventing inguinal closure and interfering with testicular descent. Therefore, the tammar wallaby may provide a useful experimental model animal in which to investigate the hormonal control of testicular migration and closure of the inguinal canal.

Effect of an anti-androgen on testicular descent and inguinal closure in a marsupial, the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii).

Androgens are essential for testicular descent in eutherian mammals, but little is known about its hormonal control in marsupials. This study reports the effects of daily treatment with the anti-androgen flutamide (10 mg kg(-1)) from day 9 to day 75 after birth on the descent of the testis and inguinal closure in tammar wallabies. By day 75 after birth, the testes of control males had descended and the prostate gland was well developed. The testes of all flutamide-treated males had passed through the inguinal canal and were situated in the base of the scrotum. Three of the nine flutamide-treated males had unilateral inguinal hernias. The size of the inguinal canal, regardless of whether a hernia was present, was significantly wider than that of control males. Development of the prostate gland was significantly inhibited. By day 75 after birth, the phallus was significantly longer in control males than in females, whereas the phallus of flutamide-treated males was similar to that of control females. In flutamide-treated males, the lumbar 1 dorsal root ganglia was feminized and significantly fewer cell bodies expressed calcitonin gene- related peptide. As the anti-androgen treatment resulted in a reduction in the number of calcitonin gene-related peptide-positive cell bodies in the dorsal root ganglion supplying the genitofemoral nerve, the process of inguinal closure in tammar wallabies may be mediated by calcitonin gene-related peptide via the genitofemoral nerve, as indicated in humans. Flutamide treatment inhibited development of the prostate gland and phallus, which are both androgen-dependent structures, but it did not affect the normal descent of the testis, indicating that testicular descent can proceed when the action of androgens is blocked.

Estrogen-induced gonadal sex reversal in the tammar wallaby.

Estrogens have a feminizing effect on gonadal differentiation in fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. However, the role of estrogen during gonadal differentiation in mammals is less clear. We investigated the effect of estrogen on gonadal differentiation of male tammar wallabies. Male pouch young were treated orally with estradiol benzoate or oil from the day of birth, before seminiferous cords develop, to Day 25 postpartum and were killed at Day 50 postpartum. In all estrogen-treated neonates, a decrease in gonadal volume, volume of the seminiferous cords, thickness of the tunica albuginea, and number of germ cells was found. The stage of treatment affected the magnitude of the response. Two of three male young born prematurely after 25 days of gestation and treated subsequently with estradiol had ovary-like gonads, with well-developed cortical and medullary regions and primordial follicle formation. Furthermore, at Day 50 postpartum, many (21%) of the germ cells in these sex-reversed ovaries were in the leptotene and zygotene stages of meiosis, similar to female germ cells at the same stage of development. In the other males born on Day 26 of gestation or later, estradiol treatment from the day of birth caused development of dysgenetic testes, with abnormal Sertoli cells, atrophy of the seminiferous tubules and tunica albuginea, and absence of meiotic germ cells. In this marsupial, therefore, estradiol can induce either partial or complete transformation of the male gonads into an ovary with meiotic germ cells. These results confirm that estrogen can inhibit early testicular development, and that testis determination occurs during a narrow window of time.

The influence of estrogen on the developing male marsupial.

The genes and hormones involved in gonadal differentiation are highly conserved between eutherians and marsupials, although the timing of the developmental events differs. In marsupials, the testis develops seminiferous cords two days after birth, and the ovaries are not distinguishable until around eight days after birth. Differentiation of the internal genitalia is controlled in marsupials, as in eutherians, by testicular testosterone and Müllerian inhibiting substance, but differentiation of the scrotum in males and mammary primordia in females is hormone-independent. Since the young are easily accessible in the pouch, it is possible to administer gonadal hormones during the period of sexual differentiation. In both Australian and South American marsupials, estradiol treatment of neonatal males can induce male-to-female gonadal sex reversal. The testicular transformations range from partial suppression of seminiferous tubule development to the development of a morphologically normal ovary depending on the stage that treatment starts. The sex-reversed testes have a clearly defined cortex and medulla, and there are significantly fewer germ cells. The germ cells are surrounded by follicle-like cells and are in the early stages of meiosis, as is normal for XX germ cells in ovaries. In normal males, germ cells only enter meiosis at the onset of puberty. As in eutherians, estrogen treatment of neonatal male marsupials prevents regression of the Müllerian ducts, which are hypertrophic. Neonatal estradiol exposure also causes hypertrophy of the prostate and urogenital sinus. Estradiol treatment also inhibits transabdominal testicular descent and many animals develop inguinal hernias. The ability of estradiol to cause testis-to-ovary sex reversal in marsupials provides a new way of studying the interactions between genes and hormones in testicular differentiation.

Antibacterial sesquiterpene aryl esters from Armillaria mellea.

Investigation of the mycelial extract of Armillaria mellea led to the isolation of the known melleolide (2a) and two new sesquiterpene aryl eters, 4-O-methylmelleolide (2b) and judeol (1c). Their structures were deduced from spectral data and that of (2b) confirmed by X-ray analysis. The new esters (1c) and (2b) showed strong antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria.