Endocrine Abstracts

Smoking by women during pregnancy can result in a 30–48% reduction in sperm count and testis size in the exposed offspring in adulthood, probably because of a decrease in the number of Sertoli cells. Until recently Sertoli cell proliferation was thought to be androgen independent because fetal Sertoli cells do not express the androgen receptor, but new evidence suggests that androgens may play the lead role in regulating Sertoli cell proliferation in fetal (Tan et al.<...

Disorders of male reproductive health, including testicular cancer, cryptorchidism, hypospadias and low sperm counts, are common and may be increasing in incidence. These conditions manifest at different life stages (low sperm counts and testicular cancer in adulthood; cryptorchidism and hypospadias at birth) but are proposed to originate in fetal life. These disorders have therefore been hypothesized to comprise a ‘testicular dysgenesis syndrome’ (TDS), which result...