Introduction to the Male Reproductive System

Androgen-Insensitivity Syndrome
• occasionally, a girl shows all the usual
changes of puberty, but fail to menstruate
– presence of testes in the abdomen
– karyotype of XY chromosomes of
a male
– testes produce normal male levels
of testosterone
– target cells lack receptors for it
– external genitalia develop female
anatomy as if no testosterone
were present
– no uterus or menstruation
Courtesy Mihaly Bartalos, from M. Bartalos and T.A. Baramki, 1967 Medical
Cytogenetics, Williams & Wilkins