Sex differences in the effect of prenatal testosterone exposure on steroid hormone production in adult rats.

摘要

Maternal hyperandrogenism during pregnancy might havemetabolic and endocrine consequences on the offspring asshown for the polycystic ovary syndrome. Despite numerousexperiments, the impact of prenatal hyperandrogenicenvironment on postnatal sex steroid milieu is not yet clear. Inthis study, we investigated the effect of prenatal testosteroneexcess on postnatal concentrations of luteinizing hormone,corticosterone and steroid hormones including testosterone,pregnenolone, progesterone, estradiol and 7β-hydroxyepiandrosteronein the offspring of both sexes. Pregnant ratswere injected daily with either testosterone propionate or vehiclefrom gestational day 14 until parturition. The hormones wereevaluated in plasma of the adult offspring. As expected, femaleshad lower testosterone and higher pregnenolone, progesteroneand estradiol in comparison to males. In addition, corticosteronewas higher in females than in males, and it was further elevatedby prenatal testosterone treatment. In males, prenataltestosterone exposure resulted in higher 7β-hydroxyepiandrosteronein comparison to control group. None of theother analyzed hormones were affected by prenatal testosterone.In conclusion, our results did not show major effects on sexhormone production or luteinizing hormone release in adult ratsresulting from testosterone excess during their fetaldevelopment. However, maternal hyperandrogenism seems topartially affect steroid biosynthesis in sex-specific manner.