Autoradiographic studies of the localisation of androgen-binding cells in the genital tubercles of fetal rats.

Distribution of androgen-binding cells in the genital tubercles of male and female fetuses of rats was examined by steroid autoradiography. Binding of [3H]testosterone appeared in the preputial mesenchymal cells, mesenchymal cells around the urethra and in the urethral epithelial cells at 15.5 days of gestation, and in the precursor cells of the proximal and distal segments of the os penis and corpus cavernosum penis at 16.5-17.5 days of gestation in both the male and female fetuses. Mesenchymal cells were suggested to be target cells for androgens which cause the morphogenetic and histogenetic changes in the penis of rats.