What happens to the mesonephric and paramesonephric ducts in male development? What part of the male DNA allows these changes to occur?
Mesonephric - becomes vas deferens
Paramesonephric - obliterated by production of mullerian inhibiting substance in males
SRY genes on the Y chromosome
What are the mesonephric and paramesonephric ducts AKA?
Mesonephric - Wolffian duct
Paramesonephric - Mullerian duct
What occurs in Turner’s syndrome? When and how is it diagnosed? What is the chromsomal classification?
What is the function of hCG and hPL (human placental lactogen)?
HCG - Promotes progesterone release form corpus luteum
hPL - Decreases maternal insulin and glucose utlitisation. Increases lipolysis.
What is the name of the visceral layer that covers the testis?
Tunica Vaginalis
What occurs post puberty with regards to spermatogenesis? How long does spermatogenesis take? How long does it take for new groups of spermatogonia to arise? What occurs during copuluation? Where do spermatozoa mature?
Stem cells –> A1 Spermatogonia –> Type B spermatogonia –> primary spermatocytes (linked) –> Spermatids –> sperms (unlinked)
Distinguish between a spermatogenic cycle and a spermatogenic wave
Spermatogenic cycle – Development of A1 spermatogonia through to 256 sperms. Time taken for the same stage of the cycle to reappear in the same segment of tubule.
Spermatogenic wave – Different parts of tubule start the spermatogenic cycle at different times, so a constant ‘wave’ of production of sperm occurs. This can be thought of as the distance between 2 parts of the tubule on the same stage in the spermatogenic wave.
What happens before birth in the ovarian cycle? What are the 3 stages that a follicle must go through to mature? Can a woman produce more oocytes, why?
3 stages are - primordial follicle, secondary follicle, pre-ovulatory follicle
What happens in the primordial follicle stage to form the primary follicle?
What happens to the primary follicle to get to the secondary follicle? What substance does the theca produce?
What happens in the secondary follicle stage? What cells do FSH and LH bind to?
What happens in the pre-ovulatory stage? How many hours before ovulation does the phase start? After how many hours do unfertilised cells degenerate?
What would happen to an XY individual with genitalia that are insensitive to testosterone or DHT?
What would happen in an XX individual and excessive androgen secretion?
External appearance is male but genetically female with internal genitalia of both sexes
What would happen to an XY individual with resistance to MIH?
Genetically and gonadally male but internal genitalia of both sexes due to test promoting external genitalia and wolffian duct.
Testes will fail to descend
What are the glycoprotein hormones that the ant pit secretes? What cell type produces each hormone?
FSH – produced by gonadotrophs
LH - produced by gonadotrophs
TSH - produced by thyrotrophs
What are the polypeptide hormones that the ant pit secretes? What cell type produces each hormone?
GH - produced by somatotrophs
ACTH - produced by Corticotrophs
Prolactin - produced by lactotrophs
What are the hormones that the post pit produces?
ADH Oxytocin (important for reproduction)
What is the action of GnRH in males? What is the action of FSH and LH? What is inhibin secretion rate related to? What else can affect the production of testosterone?

What does inhibin do in both sexes? What is inhibin secretion related to?
Inhibin from gonad reduces FSH secretion
Inhibin secretion related to developing gametes - More developed gametes release more inhibin
What is the action of LH during the luteal phase? What about progesterone? How do progesterone only contraceptives function?
LH maintains corpus luteum
Progesterone in this stage acts on oestrogen primed cells:
Further thickening of endometrium
Thickening of myometrium
Thick, acid cervical mucus – barrier against sperm and bacteria between uterus and vagina. This is how progesterone only contraceptives work.
Changes in mammary tissue
At the beginning of the menstrual cycle, what are the levels of progesterone and oestrogen? What happens here?
Low progesterone and oestrogen
FSH levels rise:
What happens in the mid follicular stage?
What happens in the pre-ovulatory phase?
LH surge. Precise timing may be influenced by environmental factors