Persistence of Müllerian ducts in male rabbits passively immunized against bovine anti-Müllerian hormone during fetal life

摘要

AfemalerabbitwasimmunizedagainstpurifiedbovineAMHandmated.BoosterinjectionsweregivenatDay8ofpregnancytoensureahightiterofanti-AMHantibodiesatthetimetherabbitfetaltestisbeginstoproduceAMH.Inthreeconsecutivelitters,theimmunizedfemaleproducedatotalof12males,9ofwhichhadpersistentM??llerianductderivatives.Noothersignificantabnormalitiesweredetectedintheseanimals,whichwerecomparedtotheoffspringofacontrolsaline-injectedfemale.Inparticular,testicularmorphologywasnormalinmostanimals,andserumFSHlevelsdidnotdifferfromcontrols.ThisexperimentalmodellendsnosupporttothehypothesisthatAMHcontrolsextra-M??llerianeventsofmalesexdifferentiation,northatoftheexistenceofaregulatorymechanismforsynthesisofAMHbySertolicells,butitdoesnotdefinitelyexcludethesepossibilities,inasmuchasourtentativeconclusionsarebaseduponstudyofonlyoneimmunizedfemale.