LAUSR

True hermaphroditism is one type of intersexuality that may involve swine, goats, cattle, horses and dogs. It’s characterized for the presence of gonads from both sexes in the same individual. True hermaphroditism can be bilateral (both gonads are ovotestes), unilateral (one gonad is an ovotestes and the other is an ovary or a testis) and lateral (one gonad is an ovary and the other a testis). Hermaphroditism is a not well-understood desordered sexual development in dogs. Thus the aim of this summary is to demonstrate testosterone, progesterone and estrogen levels recovered from a bicth with true bilateral hermaphroditism, diagnosed by histopathological examination of the gonads after ovariohysterectomy surgery, due to the few case reports published involving hormonal levels in dogs with this intersexuality. Serum was obtained from the animal before surgery and was submitted to hormone measurements. Progesterone and testosterone were evaluated by radioimnunoassay using kits from Beckman Coulter and Gamma Counter Perkin Elmer and estrogen was evaluated using Cayman plates by ELISA method with Biotek ELx808. The values of progesterone, testosterone and estrogen levels were: 2.26 ng/mL, 0.05 ng/mL and 9,70 pg/mL, respectively. The proportion of ovarian tissue found in the ovotestes after histopathological examination was higher in relation to seminiferous tubules, which may explain the low level of serum testosterone. Low concentration of serum testosterone may contributted to the parcial virilization of external genitalia, since the animal only had clitoral hypertrophy. Estrogen and progesterone levels found were compatible with the final stage of proestrus, which shows that ovarian follicles found in the bilateral ovotestes were functional contributing to the occurrence of all stages of the estrous cycle before surgery. More studies are needed to elucidate the real cause of intersex in dogs. Quantitation of serum hormones may also shed light on the cause of canine ovetestes.