Effects of testosterone on urogenital tract morphology and androgen receptor expression in immature Eastern Fence lizards (Sceloporus undulatus)

Abstract

In non-avian reptiles, the onset of sexual dimorphism of the major structures of the urogenital tract varies temporally relative to gonadal differentiation, more so than in other amniote lineages. In the current study, we used tonic-release implants to investigate the effects of exogenous testosterone (T) on postnatal development of the urogenital tract in juvenile Eastern Fence Lizards (Sceloporus undulatus) to better understand the mechanisms underlying the ontogeny of sexual differentiation in reptiles. We examined gonads, mesonephric kidneys and ducts (male reproductive tract primordia), paramesonephric ducts (oviduct primordia), sexual segments of the kidneys (SSKs), and hemiphalluses to determine which structures were sexually dimorphic independent of T treatment and which structures exhibited sexually dimorphic responses to T. To better understand tissue-level responsiveness to T treatment, we also characterized androgen receptor (AR) expression by immunohistochemistry. At approximately 4 months after hatching in control animals, gonads were well differentiated but quiescent; paramesonephric ducts had fully degenerated in males; mesonephric kidneys, mesonephric ducts, and SSKs remained sexually undifferentiated; and hemiphalluses could not be everted in either sex. Exogenous T caused enlargement, regionalization, and secretory activity of the mesonephric ducts and SSKs in both sexes; enlargement and regionalization of the oviducts in females; and enlargement of male hemipenes. The most responsive tissues exhibited moderate but diffuse staining for AR in control lizards and intense nuclear staining in T-treated lizards, suggestive of autoregulation of AR. The similarity between sexes in the responsiveness of the mesonephric ducts and SSK to T indicates an absence of sexually dimorphic organizational effects in these structures prior to treatment, which was initiated approximately 2 months after hatching. In contrast, the sex-specific responses in oviducts and hemipenes indicate that significant organization and/or differentiation had taken place prior to treatment.