MANAGING AMBIGUITY: NURSES CARING FOR THE MOTHER OF A STILLBORN BABY

Masculinisation of internal and external genitalia during foetal development depends on the existence of two discrete testicular hormones: Leydig cell-secreted testosterone drives the differentiation of the Wolffian ducts, the urogenital sinus and the external genitalia, whereas Sertoli cell-produced anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) provokes the regression of Müllerian ducts. The absence of AMH act...

Early exposure to androgens is necessary to organize male phenotype, and inhibition of androgen signaling adversely affects external genitalia development. Nonetheless, vertebrates that remain sexually plastic as adults require mechanisms that induce changes and prevent fixation of genital morphology. In Lythrypnus dalli, a highly social hermaphroditic fish, sex differences in genitalia morphol...

17-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 3 (17β-HSD3) is an important enzyme involved in the final steps of androgen synthesis and is required for the development of normal male external genitalia. 46,XY individuals with deficiency of this enzyme present a wide clinical spectrum from a female appearance of the external genitalia through ambiguous genitalia to a predominantly male genitalia with m...