Steroid contents of and steroidogenesis in vitro by the developing gonad and mesonephros around sexual differentiation in fetal sheep

The aim of the present study was to establish whether the steroids, progesterone, androstenedione, testosterone and oestradiol, were present in the mesonephric-gonadal complex of female and male sheep fetuses around sexual differentiation (that is, from day 28 to day 45 of gestation, with sexual differentiation occurring at approximately day 32). A second aim was to test whether the mesonephric-gonadal complex, mesonephros (days 35-45 only) and gonad (days 35-45 only) were capable of steroid synthesis in vitro. The steroid contents in the mesonephric-gonadal complex were not detectable before sexual differentiation. However, from day 35 of gestation onwards, the mesonephric-ovarian complex contained mainly oestradiol and the mesonephric-testicular complex contained mainly testosterone: from day 35 until day 45 the increase in content of these two steroids exceeded the increase in the mass of tissue by more than fivefold. From day 40 to day 45 of gestation, the contents of the other steroids in the pathways to oestradiol increased progressively in both sexes but more in parallel with the increase in tissue mass. In contrast to the steroid contents in the tissue at recovery, the mesonephric-gonadal tissue from both sexes in tissue culture was able to synthesize most steroids before and after sexual differentiation and also to metabolise supplementary androstenedione to oestradiol. These findings suggest that many, if not all, of the steroidogenic enzymes in the pathway from cholesterol to oestradiol are present before sexual differentiation. Most of the aforementioned steroids were present in detectable amounts in isolated mesonephros and gonad of both sexes after sexual differentiation. Moreover, for both the isolated mesonephros and gonad, there were increases in the mean contents of most steroids after culture relative to the contents in the tissues at recovery. These data suggest that the mesonephros, as well as the gonad, in both sexes is capable of synthesizing steroid. It is concluded that, in the sheep fetus, the female and male gonads are steroidogenically active after sexual differentiation, that the steroidogenic enzymes develop before sexual differentiation, and that the mesonephros is a site of steroid synthesis.