The Prenatal Development of Bovine Freemartins

  • A. Jost
  • J. P. Perchellet
  • J. Prepin
  • B. Vigier
Chapter

Abstract

Freemartins in cattle have long been a classical example of naturally occurring intersexuality in a common animal species. The beautiful studies of Frank Lillie (1916, 1917, 1923) and of his pupils (Chapin, 1917; Willier, 1921; Bissonnette, 1924, 1926) and those of Keller and Tandler (1916) are well known. The freemartin condition inspired theories of sex differentiation and many brilliant experiments in amphibians and other vertebrates. It suffices to recall that a freemartin is a genetic female calf born as a twin to a bull calf, and afflicted with more or less severe abnormalities of the internal reproductive organs. The prerequisite for the appearance of these anomalies is that the chorionic blood vessels of the male and female twins are fused and permit exchange of blood. According to Lillie this also permits transfer of testicular hormone into the female fetus. In the postnatal condition, the freemartin gonads seldom display any ovarian characteristics (Chapin, 1917; Rajakoski and Hafez, 1963); they may be extremely reduced (“asexual type” of Witschi, 1939) or contain sterile cords very similar to testicular seminiferous cords; clusters of interstitial cells may be recognized (e.g. Willier, 1921; Bissonnette, 1926; Short et al., 1969). Release of testosterone into the gonadal vein has been established in one especially strongly masculinized adult freemartin (Short et al., 1969).

Keywords

Seminal Vesicle Genital Tract Interstitial Cell Normal Female Female Fetus 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Beek, W.F. van: Die Entwicklung des Eierstockes beim Rinde. Z. Anat. Entwickl.-Gesch. 71, 458–558 (1924).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Bissonnette, T.H.: The development of the reproductive ducts and canals in the freemartin with comparison of the normal. Amer. J. Anat. 33, 267–345 (1924).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Bissonnette, T.H.: The “high flanker” testis in cattle, with its bearings of the problem of the scrotum and on that of the freemartin testis. Anat. Rec. 33, 47–58 (1926).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Buyse, H.: A case of extreme sex modification in an adult bovine freemartin. Anat. Rec. 66, 43 (1936).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Chapin, C.L.: A microscopic study of the reproductive system of foetal freemartins. J. exp. Zool. 23, 453–482 (1917).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Erickson, H.H.: Development and radio-response of the prenatal bovine ovary. J. Reprod. Fert. 11, 97–105 (1966).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Fraser-Roberts, J.A., Greenwood, A.W.: An extreme freemartin and free-martin-like condition in the sheep. J. Anat. 63, 87–94 (1928).Google Scholar
  8. Gropp, A., Ohno, S.: The presence of a common embryonic blastema for ovarian and testicular parenchymal (follicular, interstitial and tubular) cells in cattle, Bos taurus. Z. Zellforsch. 74, 505–528 (1966).PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Hay, D.: Etude d’un freemartin spontané chez les ruminants. Arch. Anat. Histol. Embryol. (Strasbourg) 33, 53–80 (1950).Google Scholar
  10. Josso, N.: Effect of testosterone and of some of its 17-hydroxylated metabolites on the Müllerian duct of the foetal rat, in organ culture. Rev. europ. Etudes clin. biol. 16, 694–697 (1971).Google Scholar
  11. Josso, N.: Activité inhibitrice du testicule de foetus de veau sur le canal de Müller de foetus de rat, en culture organotypique: rôle des tubes séminifères. C.R. Acad. Sci. (Paris) 274, 3573–3576 (1972).Google Scholar
  12. Jost, A.: Problems of fetal endocrinology: the gonadal and hypophyseal hormones. Rec. Progr. Horm. Res. 8, 379–418 (1953).Google Scholar
  13. Jost, A.: Gonadal hormones in the sex differentiation of the mammalian fetus. In: Organogenesis (eds. R.L. de Haan and H. Ursprung), pp. 611–628. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1965.Google Scholar
  14. Jost, A.: Steroids and sex differentiation of the mammalian foetus. Proc. 2nd int. Congr. Hormonal Steroids, Milan 1966. Excerpta Medica Int. Congr. Ser. 132, 74 (1966).Google Scholar
  15. Jost, A.: Hormonal factors in the sex differentiation of the mammalian foetus. In: Discussion on Determination of Sex. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 259, 119–130 (1970).Google Scholar
  16. Jost, A.: Données préliminaires sur les stades initiaux de la différenciation du testicule chez le rat. Arch. Anat. micr. Morphol. exp. 61, 415–438 (1972).Google Scholar
  17. Jost, A.: Mechanisms of normal and abnormal sex differentiation in the fetus. In: Birth Defects and Fetal Development; Endocrine and Metabolic Factors (ed. K.S. Moghissi). Springfield, USA: Ch.C. Thomas 1974.Google Scholar
  18. Jost, A., Bergerard, Y.: Culture in vitro d’ébauches du tractus génital du foetus de rat. C.R. Soc. Biol. (Paris) 143, 608–609 (1949).Google Scholar
  19. Jost, A., Chodkiewicz, M., Mauleon, P.: Intersexualité du foetus de veau produite par les androgenes. Comparaison entre l’hormone foetale responsable du free-martinisme et l’hormone testiculaire adulte. C.R. Acad. Sci. (Paris) 256, 274–276 (1963).Google Scholar
  20. Jost, A., Vigier, B., Prepin, J.: Freemartins in cattle: the first steps of sexual organogenesis. J. Reprod. Fert. 29, 349–379 (1972).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Jost, A., Vigier, B., Prepin, J., Perchellet, J.P.: Studies on sex differentiation in mammals. Rec. Progr. Horm. Res. 29, 1–41 (1973a).PubMedGoogle Scholar
  22. Jost, A., Vigier, B., Prepin, J., Perchellet, J.P.: Le développement de la gonade des freemartins. Ann. Biol. Arnim. Bioch. Biophys. 61, 415–437 (1973b).Google Scholar
  23. Keller, K., Tandler, J.: Über das Verhalten der Eihäute bei der Zwillingsträchtigkeit des Rindes. Untersuchungen über die Entstehungsursache der geschlechtlichen Unterentwicklung von weiblichen Zwillingskälbern welche neben einem männlichen Kalbe zur Entwicklung gelangen. Wien. Tierärtzl. Wschr. 3, 513–526 (1916).Google Scholar
  24. Kieffer, N.M., Sorensen, A.M.: Some cytogenetic aspects of intersexuality in the bovine. J. anim. Sci. 32, 1219–1228 (1971).PubMedGoogle Scholar
  25. Kithara, Y.: Über die Entstehung der Zwischenzellen der Keimdrüsen des Menschen und der Säugetiere und über deren physiologische Bedeutung. Arch. Entwickl.-Mechan. 52, 571 (1923).Google Scholar
  26. Krehbiel, E.B.: Differentiation of gonads in the bovine embryo. Dissertation Ph.D., Kansas State University, USA, 91 p. (1963).Google Scholar
  27. Lillie, F.: The theory of the free-martin. Science 43, 611–613 (1916).PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Lillie, F.: The free-martin, a study of the action of sex hormones in fetal life of cattle. J. exp. Zool. 23, 371–451 (1917).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Lillie, F.R.: Supplementary notes on twins in cattle. Biol. Bull. 44, 47–48 (1923).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Lillie, F.R., Bascom, K.F.: An early stage of the freemartin and the parallel history of interstitial cells. Science 55, 624–625 (1922).PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Ohno, S.: The problem of the bovine freemartin. J. Reprod. Fert. Suppl. 7, 53–61 (1969).Google Scholar
  32. Rajakoski, E., Hafez, E.S.E.: Derivatives of cortical cords in adult free-martin gonads of bovine quintuplets. Anat. Rec. 147, 457 (1963).PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Short, R.V.: Germ cell sex. In: Proc. Int. Symp. The Genetics of the Spermatozoon (eds. R.A. Beatty and S. Gluecksohn-Waelsch), pp. 325 –345. Edinburgh-New York 1971.Google Scholar
  34. Short, R.V., Smith, J., Mann, T., Evans, E.P., Hallett, J., Fryer, A., Hamerton, J.L.: Cytogenetic and endocrine studies of a freemartin heifer and its bull co-twin. Cytogenetic 8, 369–388 (1969).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Vigier, B., Prepin, J., Jost, A.: Absence de correlation entre le chimérisme XX/XY dans le foie et les premier signes de freemartinisme chez le foetus de veau. Cytogenetics 11, 81–101 (1972).PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Vigier, B., Prepin, J., Jost, A.: Absence de chimérisme XX/XY dans les tissus somatiques des foetus de veau freemartins et jumeaux mâles. Ann. Génét. 16, 149–155 (1973).PubMedGoogle Scholar
  37. Willier, B.H.: Structures and homologies of freemartin gonads. J. exp. Zool. 33, 601–611 (1921).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Witschi, E.: Range of the cortex-medulla antagonism in parabiotic twins of Ranidae and Hylidae. J. exp. Zool. 58, 113–145 (1931).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Witschi, E.: Modification of the development of sex in lower vertebrates and in mammals. In: Sex and Internal Secretions (eds. E. Allen, C. Danforth and E.A. Doisy), 2nd ed., Vol. 2, Chapt. IV, pp. 145. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins 1939.Google Scholar
  40. Witschi, E.: The inductor theory of sex differentiation. J. Fac. Sci. Hokkaido Univ. Ser. VI, Zool. 13, 428–439 (1957).Google Scholar
  41. Witschi, E.: Hormones and embryonic induction. Arch. Anat. micr. Morphol. exp. 54, 601–611 (1965).Google Scholar
  42. Witschi, E.: Biochemistry of sex differentiation in vertebrate embryos. In: The Biochemistry of Animal Development (ed. R. Weber), Vol. II, pp. 193–225. New York: Academic Press 1967.Google Scholar
  43. Wolff, E., Ginglinger, A.: Sur la transformation des Poulets mâles en intersexués par injection d’hormone femelle (folliculine) aux embryons. Arch. Anat. Histol. Embryol. (Strasbourg) 20, 219–278 (1935).Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg 1975

Authors and Affiliations

  • A. Jost
  • J. P. Perchellet
  • J. Prepin
  • B. Vigier

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations