Canalization of the Vestibular Plate in the Absence of Urethral Fusion Characterizes Development of the Human Clitoris: The Single Zipper Hypothesis

Abstract

Early development of the external genitalia in the female is analogous to that in the male, demonstrating a similar opening zipper driving canalization of the vestibular plate with localized epithelial proliferation in the absence of significant apoptosis. Thus we hypothesize that the mechanism underlying the opening zipper must be androgen independent and the absence of androgen driven urethral fusion characterizes the normal development of the human clitoris.