Testes and ovary

Testes in males and ovaries in females secrete sex hormones at puberty.

Hypogonadism:

Defects in, or injury to, the hypothalamus, the pituitary, or the testes or ovary, result in hypogonadism.

Male hypogonadism can consist of deficient androgen production (hypofucntion of Leydig cell), deficient sperm formation (hypofunction of sertoli cell), or both, before puberty.

It results in the lack of development of secondary sexual characteristics and male musculature.

Female hypogonadism results from hyposecretion of estrogen, resulting in cessation of reproductive cycles.

Such hypogonadism can result from a shortage of pituitary gonadotropins (LH, FSH or both) or can represent primary testicular/ovary failure.

Precocious puberty:

True sexual precocity, i.e., early maturation of ovaries and testes with production of ova before the age of 9 years in girls, or sperm before 10 years in boys, occurs without evident cause.

Sexual pseudoprecocity results from excesses of sex hormones from the adrenal cortex, testis, ovary or from other sources, including extragonadal tumours.

Sexual pseudoprecocity in boys occurs as a consequence of excess of testosterone produced by tumours of the testis or adrenals.

In such cases, enlargement of the penis, accelerated appearance of sexual characteristics, such as, pubic and axillary hair, masculinisation, faster body growth, and ultimate stunting are present.

Sexual pseudoprecocity in girls arises from increased supply of estrogen secreted by tumours of the ovaries or adrenals.

The external manifestations of sexual maturation, for example, breast formation and appearance of pubic hair, appear early, but the maturation and discharge of ova do not occur.

Hormones Regulating Reproduction

Eunuchoidism:

This results from the failure of testosterone secretion.

For this disorder, secondary sex organs, such as prostate gland, seminal vesicles and penis, remains infantile and small in size and fail to function.

Spermatozoa fail to be produced.

External sex characters like beards, moustaches and low-pitch male voice fail to develop.

Gynaecomastia:

It is the development of breast tissue in males, and is usually due to perturbation of estrogen to androgen ratio.

In the neonatal period and during puberty, gynaecomastia is due to temporary increase in circulating estrogen.

Decreased testosterone in later life may also lead to gynaecomastia.

Removal of testes in male is called castration.

It will lead to decline in the androgen level and secondary characters fail to appear.

It can lead to retention of high pitch juvenile voice in a male.