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...