Sexual Differentiation. Intermediate

Description

A baby's gender is determined at the time of conception when a sperm cell containing either an X or a Y chromosome fertilizes an egg cell. An X from the father means the baby will be a girl, and a Y means it will be a boy. Although the fetus' sex is determined at conception, the external sexual organs do not develop until month 4 of pregnancy. At week 7 after conception the fetus appears sexually neutral, looking neither male nor female. Over the next five weeks a male fetus begins producing hormones, called androgens (mainly testosterone), which induce the sexual organs to form in a male pattern. This process is called sexual differentiation. A female fetus does not produce sex hormones, and the absence of androgens causes the formation of female sex organs. At week 7 the sex organs of a male and a female fetus appear identical. In both genders the genital tubercle forms either the penis in the male or the clitoris in the female.

Runtime

2 min

Subjects

Genre

Date of Publication

[2013], c2010

Database

Films on Demand

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