Sexual differences in the Japanese quail: behavior, morphology, and intracellular metabolism of testosterone

Three experiments were carried out to study whether differences in the intracellular metabolism of testosterone (T) can explain sexually differential responses to T in Japanese quail. In the first experiment, a series of dose-response curves in which length of Silastic testosterone implants was related to effects on several behavioral and physiological variables was established. In Experiment 2, adult males and females were assigned to six experimental groups: intact males and females (I-males and I-females), castrated males and females implanted subcutaneously with 40-mm Silastic implants of T (T-males and T-females), and castrated males and females without hormone treatment (CX-males and CX-females). No CX-bird (male or female) and no I-female exhibited male sexual behavior. However, I-males and T-males regularly copulated during the behavioral tests. No crowing was ever heard in CX-animals and I-females. T-females crowed less than T-males and their crowing sounded weaker than those of males. The cloacal glands of T-females were less developed than those of males. Radioimmunoassay of T and 5 alpha-DHT showed that T-males and T-females have similar plasma levels of androgens. No striking differences were observed in the way testosterone is metabolized by the pituitary gland and central nervous tissues of males and females. By contrast, the production of 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (5 alpha-DHT) and 5 alpha-androstane-3 alpha, 17 beta-diol (5 alpha, 3 alpha-diol) was higher in the cloacal glands of males than in those of females. These sex differences were not detected between T-males and T-females. In experiment 3, the cloacal gland of males produced more 5 alpha-reduced metabolites than those of females. The pituitary gland of females also produced more 5 beta-androstane-3 alpha, 17 beta-diol (5 beta, 3 alpha-diol). In syringeal muscles, the production of 5 beta-dihydrotestosterone (5 beta-DHT) and 5 beta, 3 alpha-diol was higher in females compared to males.