Genital tubercle

A genital tubercle is a body of tissue present in the development of the urinary and reproductive organs. It forms in the ventral, caudal region of mammalian embryos of both sexes, and eventually develops into a phallus. In the human fetus the genital tubercle develops around week 4 of gestation, and by week 9 becomes recognizably either a clitoris or penis.

Even after the phallus is developed, the term genital tubercle remains, but only as the terminal end of it, which develops into either the glans penis or the glans clitoridis.

The genital tubercle is sensitive to dihydrotestosterone and rich in 5-alpha-reductase, so that the amount of fetal testosterone present after the second month is a major determinant of phallus size at birth.

See also

• Sexual differentiation

References

External links

• Overview at mcgill.ca