Genital tubercle

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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^[1], 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.

• Sexual differentiation

• Template:EmbryologySwiss
• Overview at mcgill.ca

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