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Adult-type gonadal response to gonadotropins is acquired at the same stage of gonadal evolution in different species, but is not related to either birth or puberty. The critical stage in the ovary is the appearance of the first true antral follicles at about 2 1/2 weeks after birth in rats and mice, 3 weeks in hamsters, and 2 1/2 months in rabbits and sows. However, when this stage is reached the ovary is not always gonadotropinsensitive. In spite of the presence of antral follicles before birth, gonadotropins have practically no effect on the ovary up to 20 days after birth in ewes, and during at least one year in women. There is no comparable reference point in the testis. However, gonadal maturation appears to occur at the same moment in males and females of the same species. There are two plausible explanations for gonadal non-responsiveness to gonadotropins, although the gonads have apparently reached a sufficient degree of differentiation to res- pond :
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Marie-Claire Levasseur (1979) studied this question.
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