Sex chromatin pattern in seminiferous tubule dysgenesis and other testicular disorders: relationship to true hermaphrodism and to Klinefelter's syndrome, with a review of gonadal ontogenesis

Devenir du marquage sexuel du noyau dans les transplants hétéro-sexuels de muqueuse vésicale

Transplants of vesical mucous tissue in the dog to an animal of opposite sex keep their own sex karyotype.

This seems to prove—to the contrary of what takes place for leucocytic sex corpuscles—that the sex karyotype of some cells does not undergo alterations under the action of hormone impregnation.

Il sesso cromosomico nella distrofia miotonica

The Author carried out tests for Barr's chromatine in 6 male subjects suffering from dystrophia myotonica and found concordance between chromosomal and gonadal sex.

'Your true and proper gender': the Barr body as a good enough science of sex

In the late 1940s, a microanatomist from London Ontario, Murray Barr, discovered a mark of sex chromosome status in bodily tissues, what came to be known as the 'Barr body'. This discovery offered an important diagnostic technology to the burgeoning clinical science community engaged with the medical interpretation and management of sexual anomalies. It seemed to offer a way to identify the true, underlying sex in those whose bodies or lives were sexually anomalous (intersexuals, homosexuals and transsexuals). The hypothesis that allowed the Barr body to stand in for 'chromosomal' or 'genetic' sex was provisional, but it supported the expectation that genetic information established one's primary identity, and the conviction that the animal world could be neatly divided into two, and only two, sexes. Ultimately, this provisional hypothesis, and its status as an unambiguous arbiter of true sex, was overturned. But during much of the 1950s, Barr's thesis about the identity of the Barr body was consistent with a coherent set of theories and evidence explaining sexual development and sexual pathology. Though provisional, the scientific status of the sex chromatin within this system of knowledge was good enough to support a flourishing research enterprise in the clinical sciences.

Quantified testicular histology in boys with sex chromosome abnormalities

Testicular histology in adult men with Klinefelter's syndrome (KS) is characterized by degenerative changes of the seminiferous epithelium. In contrast, limited changes have been reported in XXY fetuses. However, knowledge about the natural history of the degeneration of testicular histology in KS is scarce, and similarly testicular histology in prepubertal individuals with XY/XXY and XYY karyotypes is described incompletely. We have performed a qualitative and quantitative study of testicular histology in 11 XXY, one XY/XXY mosaic and two XYY boys between the neonatal period and 13 years of age using stereological methods and control data from normal XY boys and XY boys undergoing surgery for testicular maldescent. Testicular specimens were obtained at autopsy (n=2) or at time of surgery for malposition of the testis (n=10) or for inguinal hernia (n=2). The seminiferous tubules showed no sign of degeneration in any of the specimens. The volume density of seminiferous tubules was normal at all ages, whereas mean tubular diameter was reduced in all but three XXY boys. Germ cell numbers were only normal in XXY and XYY infants as well as in the 12 year old mosaic. No germ cells were observed in any XXY boy age 2 years or more. Leydig cells were observed in the infants and in a 13 year old XXY boy. The changes were comparable to what has been found in the most severely affected XY boys with testicular maldescent. We conclude that testicular histology in individuals with sex chromosome aneuploidy seems to be near normal during infancy, after which time degenerative changes occur.

Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) and Klinefelter's syndrome: a possible cause of variable expression of BMD within a pedigree

We describe a man with Becker muscular dystrophy whose weakness was minimal in contrast to that of his more severely affected nephews. This man had a Klinefelter karyotype (47,XXY) and his mild symptoms may be attributed to him being heterozygous for the muscular dystrophy gene. This is the first report of a person with both Klinefelter's syndrome and Becker muscular dystrophy. This combination may be one explanation for the variable expression of X linked muscular dystrophy noted in some pedigrees.

A possible etiology of the infertile 46XX male subject

We report on an infertile male patient with the predominant 46XX female karyotype. A testicular biopsy revealed widely separated testicular tubules, absence of sperm formation and large numbers of Leydig cells. Chromosome studies, including measurements of the X chromosomes, showed a significant difference between the lengths of the short arm of the 2 X chromosomes. This information lends support for an X-Y chromosome interchange as the etiology of this syndrome. The clinical features of this rare syndrome and other theories of etiology of XX male subjects are discussed.

Klinefelter syndrome and neurological disease

Six patients with Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY) and different neurological disease are described. Essential tremor has been reported repeatedly but its significance deserves further studies. The prevalence of epilepsy with the Klinefelter syndrome is higher in comparison with the normal poplation, but it is not greater than expected in the population of a mental hospital. Therefore we suggest that the neurological symptoms with the Klinefelter syndrome should basically be regarded as coincidental findings not related to the chromosome abnormality.