| Fall 2002 CARES Foundation, Inc. | |
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CAH Related Research with Spotted Hyenas Dr. Ned Place, University of California, Berkeley |
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| Dr. Ned J. Place has been doing fascinating research using spotted hyenas at the University of California in Berkeley. Although spotted hyenas are not perfect animal models for understanding CAH, they do represent an "experiment of nature" in which females are naturally masculinized and exposed to androgens prenatally.
The female spotted hyenas are the most masculinized female mammals ever described. All females of this species have a clitoris that approaches the size and shape of the penis; they also have a pseudoscrotum, as no external vaginal opening exists. Scientists believe females are virilized in response to androgens during fetal development that are derived from the mother’s ovary. Dr. Place is specifically interested in the effects of prenatal androgens on the development of the ovary, and the persistent effects that prenatal androgens can have on ovarian function in adulthood. This has relevance to CAH, as some women with CAH suffer from some degree of PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and associated infertility. Dr. Place is interested in learning how the ovaries of spotted hyenas are affected by prenatal androgens, and if some mechanism might explain how they avoid the negative consequences. Dr. Place will soon have a paper published in Biology of Reproduction with his findings; addressing the possibility that anti-androgen treated female hyenas conceive more readily than their more highly virilized sisters. |
(Illustration by Christine M. Drea, Duke University) | |||
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