sex cords

At about week 6, sex cords develop within the forming testes.

The gonadal ridge appears at approximately five weeks, and gives rise to the sex cords.

In males, the sex cords fully invade the developing gonads.

Cortical cords, structures that develop from sex cords in the female.

The rete ovarii is a structure formed from the primary sex cords in females.

The seminiferous tubules are formed from primitive sex cords.

Its expression directly or indirectly causes the development of primary sex cords, which will later develop to seminiferous tubules.

After sexual differentiation, in males the sex cords become the testis cords, which help develop and nourish the Sertoli cells, while in females they become the cortical cords.

In animal embryology, the gonadal cords or sex cords (or primitive sex cords) are structures that develop from the gonadal ridge.

As there is no evidence that primordial follicles express BMP ligands, the mechanism by which this activation occurs would be paracrine, most likely involving BMP-7 from adjacent tissues such as the theca, secondary interstitial, or sex cords.