-transparent.png){kind=logo}
We use the Tfm (testicular feminization) mutation of the mouse to reexamine the role of Wolffian and Müllerian ducts during formation of the vagina. Three dimensional graphical reconstructions of the lower genital tract are prepared from serial sections of male, female, and Tfm embryos from day 15 p.c. until 8 days after birth. The reconstructions show that in female and Tfm animals the caudal segments of Wolffian and Müllerian ducts fuse and migrate caudally, whereas in the male they do not fuse and remain in their original position. Following down-growth, separate Wolffian and Müllerian ducts emerge from the fused caudal tips of the ducts. The Wolffian ducts degenerate, while the Müllerian ducts fuse with each other and form the vagina. Wolffian and Müllerian ducts are connected to the urogenital sinus by the sinus ridges which in later stages are separated from the sinus by lateral furrows. The sinus ridges are replaced by the Müllerian ducts. We conclude that the vagina develops by down-growth of Wolffian and Müllerian ducts along the sinus ridges. Wolffian ducts and sinus ridges regress so that the definitive vagina is formed by the Müllerian ducts. In Tfm embryos the vagina forms as in the female but subsequently degenerates, probably due to the action of AMH. The vaginal pocket in the Tfm is the variable remainder of the vagina at the end of the degeneration process.
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
March 1971,
Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des seances de l'Academie des sciences. Serie D: Sciences naturelles,
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
August 1946,
Canadian Medical Association journal,
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
January 2024,
FEBS open bio,
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
August 1965,
Doklady Akademii nauk SSSR,
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
July 1967,
Experientia,
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
January 2009,
Experimental animals,
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
January 1978,
Verhandlungen der Anatomischen Gesellschaft,
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
January 1984,
Acta anatomica,
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
January 2007,
Sexual development : genetics, molecular biology, evolution, endocrinology, embryology, and pathology of sex determination and differentiation,
R B Mauch, and
K U Thiedemann, and
U Drews
January 1987,
Anatomy and embryology,
