Roosters, Reifenstein's Syndrome and Hormone Resistance

The development of insight into the pathogenesis of the Reifenstein syndrome illustrates an interesting development in the evolution of modern endocrinology. From their studies of the syndrome of pseudohypoparathyroidism, Fuller Albright and his colleagues, in 1942, developed the concept that endocrinopathies can result when circulating hormone levels are normal (or elevated) but resistance to the action of hormones exists at the target cell. Albright immediately recognized the theoretical implications of this concept and drew the analogy between pseudohypoparathyroidism and the Seabright-Bantam strain of chickens in which a female feathering pattern develops in an otherwise normal rooster with putatively normal androgen.