A gonad, sex gland, or reproductive gland is a mixed gland that produces the gametes and sex hormones of an organism.

Female Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...

reproductive cells are egg cells, and

male Male (Mars symbol, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot sexual reproduction, repro ...

reproductive cells are sperm. The male gonad, the testicle, produces sperm in the form of

spermatozoa A spermatozoon (; also spelled spermatozoön; ; ) is a motile sperm cell (biology), cell, or moving form of the ploidy, haploid cell (biology), cell that is the male gamete. A spermatozoon Fertilization, joins an ovum to form a zygote. (A zygote ...

. The female gonad, the

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the bod ...

, produces egg cells. Both of these gametes are haploid cells. Some hermaphroditic animals have a type of gonad called an ovotestis.

Evolution

It is hard to find a common origin for gonads, but gonads most likely evolved independently several times.

Regulation

The gonads are controlled by

luteinizing hormone Luteinizing hormone (LH, also known as luteinising hormone, lutropin and sometimes lutrophin) is a hormone produced by gonadotropic cells in the anterior pituitary gland. The production of LH is regulated by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (Gn ...

and

follicle-stimulating hormone Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is a gonadotropin, a glycoprotein polypeptide hormone. FSH is synthesized and secreted by the gonadotropic cells of the anterior pituitary gland and regulates the development, growth, pubertal maturation, ...

, produced and secreted by gonadotropes or gonadotrophins in the anterior pituitary gland. This secretion is regulated by gonadotropin-releasing hormone produced in the

hypothalamus The hypothalamus () is a part of the brain that contains a number of small nuclei with a variety of functions. One of the most important functions is to link the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus ...

Development

Gonads start developing as a common primordium (an organ in the earliest stage of development), in the form of genital ridges, which are only later differentiated to male or female sex organs. The presence of the SRY

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

, located on the

Y chromosome The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes ( allosomes) in therian mammals, including humans, and many other animals. The other is the X chromosome. Y is normally the sex-determining chromosome in many species, since it is the presence or a ...

and encoding the testis determining factor, determines male sexual differentiation. In the absence of the SRY gene from the Y chromosome, the female sex (ovaries instead of testes) will develop. The development of the gonads is a part of the development of the urinary and reproductive organs.

Disease

The gonads are subject to many diseases, such as hypergonadism,

hypogonadism Hypogonadism means diminished functional activity of the gonads—the testes or the ovaries—that may result in diminished production of sex hormones. Low androgen (e.g., testosterone) levels are referred to as hypoandrogenism and low est ...

, agonadism, tumors, and cancer, among others.

Aging

Ovarian aging

A delay in having children is common in the developed world and this delay is often associated with ovarian

infertility Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species (mostly haplodiploid insects). It is the normal st ...

and subfertility. Ovarian aging is characterized by progressive decline of the quality and number of

oocyte An oocyte (, ), oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The femal ...

sPark SU, Walsh L, Berkowitz KM. Mechanisms of ovarian aging. Reproduction. 2021 Jul 14;162(2):R19-R33. doi: 10.1530/REP-21-0022. PMID: 33999842; PMCID: PMC9354567. This decline is likely due, in part, to reduced expression of genes that encode proteins necessary for

DNA repair DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA da ...

and

meiosis Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately ...

. Such reduced expression can lead to increased

DNA damage DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA da ...

and errors in meiotic recombination.

Testicular aging

The testes of older men often have sperm abnormalities that can ultimately lead to

. These abnormalities include accumulation of DNA damage and decreased DNA repair abilityDong S, Chen C, Zhang J, Gao Y, Zeng X, Zhang X. Testicular aging, male fertility and beyond. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022 Oct 13;13:1012119. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.1012119. PMID: 36313743; PMCID: PMC9606211. During spermatogenesis in the testis, spontaneous new mutations arise and tend to accumulate with ageCioppi F, Casamonti E, Krausz C. Age-Dependent De Novo Mutations During Spermatogenesis and Their Consequences. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1166:29-46. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-21664-1_2. PMID: 31301044.

References

{{Authority control Glands Endocrine system Human reproductive system