• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.142-151
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• 2009

The incidence of small for gestational age (SGA) births is frequent, accounting for 2.3% to 8% of all live births. Several childhood and adult diseases are related to early postnatal growth and birth size, and 10% of children born SGA may have a short stature throughout postnatal life. Additionally, they may have abnormal growth hormone (GH)-insulin like growth factor axis, HPA axis, and gonadal function. Permanent changes are detrimental in an environment of nutritional abundance, and predispose SGA children to an array of diseases in adolescence and adulthood. Such changes may also cause premature pubarche, adrenarche, and precocious puberty. The varying results from clinical studies necessitate more prospective case control studies. Reproductive tract abnormalities and reproductive dysfunction are related to SGA births. GH treatment is required for SGA infants who do not experience catch-up growth.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.651-662
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• 2006

Phthalate esters that are used as plasticizers and also found at low levels in foods such as dairy products are often mentioned as suspected endocrine disrupters. The purpose of the present study is to elucidate whether perinatal exposure to di-n-butyl phthalate(DBP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP) and di-2-ethylhexyl adipate (DEHA) affects several aspects of reproductive function in rats especially sexual differentiation of the brain. To this end, the dams were provided with pulverized soy-free diet containing 20, 200, 2,000 and 10,000 ppm of DBP, 40, 400, 4,000 and 20,000 ppm of DINP, or 480, 2,400 and 12,000 ppm of DEHA from gestational day (GD) 15 to postnatal day (PDN) 21, the day of weaning, and serum sex steroid hormone, gonadotropin levels and sexual behaviors after maturation were assessed. At Postnatal week (PNW) 20-21, serum levels of sex steroids and gonadotropins in both male and female rats, as well as estrous cyclicity in females, were not changed by perinatal exposure to DBP, DINP and DEHA, indicating that these chemicals did not affect sexual differentiation of the brain controlling the endocrine system of hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. On the other hand, inhibitory influences on sexual behaviors, especially on ejaculation in males and lordosis in females, were observed by perinatal exposure to these chemicals. These results suggest that these chemicals may act directly on discrete regions of the hypothalamus regulating sexual behaviors, but not regulating gonadotropin secretion, thereby affect sexual differentiation of the brain with a resultant decrease in sex-specific behaviors in adulthood.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.215-222
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• 2000

The primordial germ cell of the sweet fish was recognized from the 2-day old fry (tl : 0.66 cm), when it began to protrude into peritoneal cavity between meaonephric duct and gut. The primordial gonad, with the formation of genital ridge, developed on the 30-day old fry. Ovarian differentiation was identified by the presence of ovarian cavity and meiotic oocytes from the 90-day old fry (tl : 3.42 cm). Testicular differentiation was identified by the presence of spermatogonial cells with efferent duct from the 100-day old fry (11 : 4.50 cm). Hence the sweet fish belongs to the differentiated type of gonochoristic teleost.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.189-202
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• 1997

The hypothalamic peptide GnRH plays a central role in the regulation of the mammalian reproductive axis. Recent studies suggested that GnRH stimulates or inhibits the ovarian steroidogenesis and gametogenesis directly. Our previous report indicated that GnRH gene is expressed in adult rat ovary as well as in hypothalamus and that the expressed GnRH may induce the follicular atresia and apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells in rat. Therfore, we studied whether GnRH gene is expressed in the mouse fetal ovary, when the germ cells are degenerating by apoptosis during gonad diffeerentiation. Mouse fetal gonads were obtained on the 12, 15,18 and 20th day of gestation from the mother mice superovulated (10 IU PMSG and 10 IU hCG) and mated. The morphological changes of fetal ovaries were examined histochemically by hematoxylin-eosin staining. The fetal sex was confirmed by PCR methods for sexing. RT-PCR methods were used to examine the expression of GnRH gene and the sex steroid hormones were determined by conventional radioimmunoassays. The levels of estradiol (E) and progesterone (P) were increaseduntil 18th day of gestation and then E was decreased just before parturition. The morphological changes of fetal gonadal tissue sections showed the ovarian development and coincided with the result of PCR analysis for sexing using ovary- or testis- specific oligonucleotide primers. Immunoreactive GnRH in placenta was decreased gradually until the end of gestation but fetal brain and ovarian GnRH were increased. The level of GnRH gene expression was increased during fetal ovarian development from 12 till 18th day and decreased suddenly on 20th day just before birth. From these results, it is suggested that ovarian GnRh may play a regulatory role on the germ cell differentiation of fetal ovary.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.179-184
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• 2010

Water temperature influences on various key biological events in fish, but the internal pathway of the temperature effects are not well understood. Heat shock proteins (HSPs), known to respond in the level of cells to many environmental factors including temperature, could improve our understanding on the pathway. Some biological processes such as gonadal development and sex differentiation in the Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus is particularly sensitive to water temperature. In this study, we have investigated the expressions of HSP70 and HSP90 genes in young tilapia at an ordinary temperature ($28^{\circ}C$) and elevated water temperature ($36^{\circ}C$). The distribution of the expressions of HSP70 and HSP90 mRNA in this species were found to be almost ubiquitous, being detected in all tissues studied here (brain, gonad, liver and muscle), suggesting the house keeping functions of these genes. Heat shock by elevating temperature from $28^{\circ}C$ to $36^{\circ}C$ significantly increased the expression of HSP70 mRNA in the gonad, liver and muscle for several hours (P<0.05) (brain tissue was not examined for this). The increased level of HSP70 gene expression recovered to the level at control temperature ($28^{\circ}C$) when fish were kept continuously at high temperature ($36^{\circ}C$) for 24 hours. Contrary to this, expression of HSP90 mRNA did not show significant increase in the gonad and muscle by the same heat shock (P>0.05), except in the liver where the expression of HSP90 mRNA increased continuously for 24 hours at $36^{\circ}C$. The results obtained in this study suggest that response to temperature change in different tissue or organ may utilize different heat shock proteins, and that HSP70 may have some importance in temperature-sensitive gonadal event in the Nile tilapia.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.998-1003
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• 2013

The effects of oral administration of estradiol-$17{\beta}$ (E2) on glass eels (Body weight: $0.16{\pm}0.05g$, Total length: $6.2{\pm}0.9cm$) and young eels (Body weight: $2.6{\pm}0.6g$, Total length: $13.2{\pm}0.6cm$) on gonadal sex and growth were examined, respectively. Glass eels were fed a diet containing E2 at a dose of 10 mg/kg or 25 mg/kg, respectively, for five months. The female ratio significantly increased in all E2-treated groups (10 mg/kg diet group: 70%; 25 mg/kg diet group: 90%) when compared to the control group (10%). Young eels were fed a diet containing E2 at a dose of 25 mg/kg for four months. The female ratio also significantly increased in the E2-treated groups (60%) compared to the control group (20%). The highest female ratio was observed in the stage of glass eels rather than young eels. In all experiments, however, the growth of eels treated with E2 was similar to that of controls to the end of the experiment. Thus, oral administration of E2 could be a good approach to controlling sex differentiation.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.149-155
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• 2013

Mullerian inhibiting substance (MIS) is a member of the TGF-${\beta}$ (transforming growth factor-${\beta}$) family whose members play key roles in development, suppression of tumour growth, and feedback control of the pituitary-gonadal hormone axis. MIS is expressed in a highly tissue-specific manner in which it is restricted to male Sertoli cells and female granulose cells. The serum levels of MIS in prenatal and postnatal ICR mice were measured using the enzyme-linked immuno-solvent assay (ELISA) using the MIS/AMH antibody. Mice were grouped by age: the significant periods were at the onset of development. During sex organ differentiation, no remarkable difference between female and male foetus MIS serum levels (both<0.1 ng/ml) was observed. However, MIS serum levels in pregnant mice markedly changed (4.5~12.2 ng/ml). After birth, postnatal female and male mice serum MIS levels changed considerably (male: <0.1~138.5 ng/ml, female: 5.3~103.4 ng/ml), and the changing phase were diametrically opposed (male: decreasing, female: fluctuating). These findings suggest that MIS may have strong associations with not only develop-ment but also puberty. For further studies, establishing the standard MIS serum levels is of importance. Our study provides the basic information for the study of MIS interactions with reproductive organ disability, cancer, and the effect of other hormone or menopause. We hypothesise that if MIS is regularly injected into middle-age women, meno-pause will be delayed. We detected that serum MIS concentration curves change with age. The changing phase is different between males and females, and this difference is significant after birth. Moreover, MIS mRNA is expressed during the developmental period (prenatal) and also in the postnatal period. This finding indicates that MIS may play a significant role in the developmental stage and in growth after birth.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2007

Sex differentiation of the brown croaker Miichthys miiuy (Basilewsky) is described from hatching to the 120th day post-hatching (dph) (water temperature $24^{\circ}C$). Primordial germ cells (PGCs) were observed on the 20th dph (10.4 mm total length (TL), 0.14 g body weight (BW), and began to protrude into the peritoneal cavity from the 40th dph (19.4 mm TL, 0.39 g BW). On the 65th dph (31.3 mm TL, 0.93 g BW, $1,560D^{\circ}$ (degree-days)), initial ovarian differentiation was identified by the PGCs with condensed chromatin, and their transformation into meiotic oocytes. By the 120th dph (4.60 mm TL, 1.38 g BW, $2,880D^{\circ}$), the oocytes were in the perinucleolus stage and had increased from 20 to $40{\mu}m$ in diameter. While ovaries gradually grew after sex was differentiated, testes continued to multiply from the 65th dph. On the 80th dph (37.9 mm TL, 1.39 g BW, $1,920D^{\circ}$), the beginning of testis lobule formation was indicated by the occurrence of spermatogonial cysts enveloped by somatic cells in some of the testes. On the 120th dph, the testis lobules of some of the fish contained all germ cell stages through to the spermatocytes. Therefore, the sex differentiation type of the brown croaker is identified as gonochoristic.