Secondary Development in

Male
Farida Ulfa 15-057
• Puberty is one stage in the continuing process of growth and development that
begins during gestation and continues until the end of reproductive life.

• After an interval of childhood quiescence—the juvenile pause—the

hypothalamic pulse generator increases activity in the peripubertal period, just
before the physical changes of puberty commence. This leads to increased
secretion of pituitary gonadotropins and, subsequently, gonadal sex steroids that
bring about secondary sexual development, the pubertal growth spurt, and
fertility.

• Many endogenous and exogenous factors can alter age at onset of puberty.
• A burst of testosterone secretion occurs in male fetuses before birth.

• In the neonatal period there is another burst, with unknown function, but thereafter
the Leydig cells become quiescent.

• Followed by a period in which the gonads of both sexes are quiescent until they are
activated by gonadotropins from the pituitary to bring about the final maturation of the
reproductive system.

• This period of final maturation is known as adolescence.

• It is often also called puberty , although puberty, strictly defined, is the period when the
endocrine and gametogenic functions of the gonads have first developed to the point
where reproduction is possible.

Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology 24e - 2012

FIGURE 22-8
Plasma testosterone
levels at various ages
in human males.
 Adolescence And Puberty

Adolescence

 The period of growth and maturation of the reproductive system that culminates at
puberty

 The final maturation of of the reproductive system activated by pituitary

gonadotropins

 Secretory and morphological activities of the gonads reach the adult stage, and the
menarche occurs
 Adolescence

 Children display two periods of rapid growth—a postnatal growth spurt

during their first two years of life and a pubertal growth spurt during
adolescence

 The sebaceous glands are particularly active during adolescence, causing

the oily skin common among teenagers.

 Adolescence, the period of life beginning with the appearance of

secondary sex characters and terminating with the cessation of somatic
growth (1-19 yrs of age)
 Puberty (1)

• Puberty requires maturation of the hypothalamic-pituitary control pathway.

• Before puberty, the child has low levels of both steroid sex hormones and
gonadotropins.

• Because low sex hormone levels normally enhance gonadotropin release,

the combination of low steroids and low gonadotropins indicates that the
hypothalamus and pituitary are not yet sensitive to steroid levels in the
blood.

Silverthorn Human Physiology 5e, 2010

 Puberty (2)

• At puberty, the hypothalamic GnRH-secreting neurons increase their pulsatile

secretion of GnRH, which in turn increases gonadotropin release.

• The signals responsible for the onset of puberty are complex, but several of them
appear to be mediated by the hypothalamic neuropeptide kisspeptin.

• The hormone leptin also contributes to the onset of puberty.

Silverthorn Human Physiology 5e, 2010

 Puberty (3)
 Puberty is the period of arousal and maturation of the previously nonfunctional reproductive
system, culminating in sexual maturity and the ability to reproduce.

 It usually begins sometime between the ages of 10 and 14; on average, it begins about two
years earlier in females than in males.

 Usually lasting three to five years, puberty encompasses a complex sequence of endocrine,
physical, and behavioral events.

 The reproductive changes that take place during puberty are

(1) enlargement and maturation of gonads,
(2) development of secondary sexual characteristics,
(3) achievement of fertility (gamete production),
(4) growth and maturation of the reproductive tract, and
(5) attainment of libido (sex drive). The pubertal growth spurt also occurs.
 Puberty (5)

Puberty
o Refers to the process of physical changes by which a child's body becomes an
adult body capable of reproduction

o The period when the endocrine and gametogenic functions of the gonads have
first developed to the point where reproduction is possible
Relative importance of hormones in human growth at various ages.
(Courtesy of DA Fisher.)
Rate of growth in boys and girls from birth to age 20.
 Puberty and Regulation of Its Onset

• Initiation of the onset of puberty has long been a mystery, but it has now been
determined that during childhood the hypothalamus does not secrete significant
amounts of GnRH .

• One of the reasons for this is that, during childhood, the slightest secretion of any sex
steroid hormones exerts a strong inhibitory effect on hypothalamic secretion of GnRH.

• Yet, for reasons still not understood, at the time of puberty, the secretion of
hypothalamic GnRH breaks through the childhood inhibition and adult sexual life begins.
 Control of The Onset of Puberty

 The precise mechanism is still not well understood

 Requires interactions between the brain, the pituitary gland, and the gonads and their
target organs

 Children’s gonads can be stimulated by gonadotropins

 Children’s pituitary contain gonadotropins, but are not secreted

 Children’s hypothalami contain GnRH

 During the period from birth to puberty, a still unknown neural mechanism is
preventing the normal pulsatile release of GnRH
 Control of the Onset of Puberty

 THE METABOLIC INPUT

 Good nutrition advances the onset of puberty, starvation delays

it

 Link between nutrition and the activity of GnRH pulse generator

 The hypothesis: a threshold of body weight (percent of body fat)

is critical for allowing initiation of the maturity process

 Probably metabolic cues are relayed to the brain and provide

signals that activate the GnRH pulse generator
 Puberty as a hormonal process

1. The brain's hypothalamus begins to release pulses of GnRH. True

puberty is often termed "central puberty" because it begins as a
process of the central nervous system

2. Cells in the anterior pituitary respond by secreting LH and FSH

into the circulation

3. The ovaries or testes respond to the rising amounts of LH and

FSH by growing and beginning to produce estradiol and
testosteron

4. Rising levels of estradiol and testosterone produce the body

changes of female and male puberty
Male changes
• The first sign of normal puberty in boys is usually an increase in the
size of the testes to more than 2.5 cm in the longest diameter
• Most of the increase in testicular size is due to seminiferous tubular
development secondary to stimulation by follicle stimulating
hormone (FSH), with a smaller component due to Leydig cell
stimulation by luteinizing hormone (LH).
• Pubic hair development is caused by adrenal and testicular androgen
secretion and is classified separately from genital development
 EFFECTS ON SECONDARY SEXUAL
CHARACTERISTICS
All male secondary sexual characteristics depend on testosterone
(1) the male pattern of hair growth (for example, beard and chest
hair and, in genetically predisposed men, baldness);
(2) a deep voice caused by enlargement of the larynx and
thickening of the vocal folds;
(3) thick skin; and
(4) the male body configuration (for example, broad shoulders
and heavy arm and leg musculature) as a result of protein
deposition. A male castrated before puberty (a eunuch) does not mature
sexually, nor does he develop secondary sexual characteristics.