- What is intersex?
- How common is intersex?
- Intersex conditions
- How do I know if I have an intersex condition?
- 5-alpha reductase deficiency
- Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)
- Aphallia
- Clitoromegaly (large clitoris)
- Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH)
- gonadal dysgenesis (partial & complete)
- hypospadias
- I have a line along the underside of my penis
- Klinefelter Syndrome
- micropenis
- mosaicism involving "sex" chromosomes
- MRKH (Mullerian agenesis; vaginal agenesis; congenital absence of vagina)
- ovo-testes (formerly called "true hermaphroditism")
- Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (PAIS)
- Progestin Induced Virilization
- Swyer Syndrome
- Turner Syndrome
- What does ISNA recommend for children with intersex?
- Does ISNA think children with intersex should be raised without a gender, or in a third gender?
- What's wrong with the way intersex has traditionally been treated?
- What do doctors do now when they encounter a patient with intersex?
- Questions about Intersex Society of North America
- How come many people have never heard of intersex?
- Is a person who is intersex a hermaphrodite?
- Does having a Y chromosome make someone a man?
- Is intersex the same as "ambiguous genitalia"?
- Show me how intersex anatomy develops
- What is the current policy of the American Academy of Pediatrics on surgery?
- What's the difference between being transgender or transsexual and having an intersex condition?
- Why Doesn't ISNA Want to Eradicate Gender?
- How can you assign a gender (boy or girl) without surgery?
- What evidence is there that you can grow up psychologically healthy with intersex genitals (without "normalizing" surgeries)?
- Does ISNA advocate doing nothing when a child is born with intersex?
- What's ISNA's position on surgery?
- Are there medical risks associated with intersex conditions?
- How can I get my old medical records?
- What do intersex and the same-sex marriage debate have to do with each other?
- Who was David Reimer (also, sadly, known as "John/Joan")?
- What's the history behind the intersex rights movement?
mosaicism involving "sex" chromosomes
First, some background: A karyotype is a picture of the chromosomes in a cell. A karyotype is used to see what kinds of chromosomes a person has. It is created by taking a blood or tissue sample from a person, and then staining the chromosomes with dye and photographing them through a microscope. The photograph is then cut up and rearranged so that the chromosomes are lined up into corresponding pairs. The result is usually reported as the number and type of a person’s chromosomes, such as 45,X (the individual has 22 pairs of matched chromosomes and one X chromosome, also known as Turner Syndrome); 46,XX (the individual has 22 pairs of matched chromosomes and two X chromosomes); 46,XY (the individual has 22 pairs of matched chromosomes, one X chromosome and one Y chromosome); 47, XXY.
A person is said to have a “mosaic karyotype” when he or she has one kind of karyotype in some of his or her cells, and a different karyotype in other cells. An example is when a person is said to have a 45,X/46,XX karyotype; that means he or she has 46,X in some cells, and 46,XX in other cells. Mosaicism happens because sometimes cells divide incorrectly early in the life of an embryo.
For instance a woman with Mosaic Turner Syndrome may have some cells that are XO (typical Turner Syndrome karyotype) and some cells that are XX (typical female karyotype). Mosaicism also occurs in milder forms of Klinefelter Syndrome called 46/47 XY/XXY mosaic. In this case, the XY cells would have 46 chromosomes (a typical number of chromosomes) and the XXY cells would have 47 chromosomes.
