The cortisol and androgen pathways cross talk in high temperature-induced masculinization: the 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase as a key enzyme.

In many ectotherm species the gonadal fate is modulated by temperature early in life [temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD)] but the transducer mechanism between temperature and gonadal differentiation is still elusive. We have recently shown that cortisol, the glucocorticoid stress-related hormone in vertebrates, is involved in the TSD process of pejerrey, Odontesthes bonariensis. Particularly, all larvae exposed to a male-producing temperature (MPT, 29 C) after hatching showed increased whole-body cortisol and 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT; the main bioactive androgen in fish) levels and developed as males.

Cortisol-induced masculinization: does thermal stress affect gonadal fate in pejerrey, a teleost fish with temperature-dependent sex determination?

Background: Gonadal fate in many reptiles, fish, and amphibians is modulated by the temperature experienced during a critical period early in life (temperature-dependent sex determination; TSD). Several molecular processes involved in TSD have been described but how the animals "sense" environmental temperature remains unknown. We examined whether the stress-related hormone cortisol mediates between temperature and sex differentiation of pejerrey, a gonochoristic teleost fish with marked TSD, and the possibility that it involves glucocorticoid receptor- and/or steroid biosynthesis-modulation.