Maternal Stress Alters Plasma Testosterone in Fetal Males

Ward, Ingeborg L.; Weisz, Judith

doi:10.1126/science.7188648

Cited by 358 publications

(145 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Males experience a prenatal and early postnatal surge in testosterone that 'androgenizes' various target tissues, organs, and endocrine axes, altering their sensitivity and developmental response to the rise in testosterone production initiated at puberty (Forest, 1983). Fetal testosterone production, in turn, is sensitive to maternal nutrition (Rae et al, 2002) and stress (Ward & Weisz, 1980;Williams et al, 1999). Given the importance of the pubertal rise in androgen production to the establishment of the male-typical adult lipid profile (Berenson et al, 1981), any long-term effects of the intrauterine milieu on sex steroids or steroid-sensitive target tissues, such as liver enzymes (Gustafsson & Stenberg, 1974), could influence adult lipid profiles in males.…”

Section: Sex Differences In Lipid Programming: Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A supply–demand model of fetal energy sufficiency predicts lipid profiles in male but not female Filipino adolescents

Kuzawa

Adair²

2004

Eur J Clin Nutr

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Objective: To test the hypothesis that the balance between fetal nutritional demand and maternal nutritional supply during pregnancy will predict lipid profiles in offspring measured in adolescence. Subjects and methods: A total of 296 male and 307 female Filipino offspring (aged 14-16 y) and mothers enrolled in a longitudinal birth cohort study (begun in 1983-84) had lipid profiles measured. Data on maternal height (as a proxy for offspring growth potential and thus fetal nutritional demand) and third trimester maternal arm fat area (as a proxy for maternal supply) were used to create four groups hypothesized to reflect a gradient of fetal energy sufficiency. Results: As fetal energy sufficiency increased among males, there was a decrease in total cholesterol (TC) (Po0.05 for trend), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and the ratios of TC/HDL-C cholesterol and LDL-C/HDL-C (all Po0.001), while HDL-C increased (Po0.05). Similar associations were identified when lipid levels were modeled as dichotomous 'high-risk' cutpoints used in cardiovascular disease prevention in adolescents. These relationships were stronger, or only present, among offspring of mothers in the lower half of the third trimester energy intake distribution, and were independent of the child's current adiposity, dietary energy and fat intake, maturity, household income, and birth weight. In females, the supply-demand model did not predict any lipid outcome or clinical risk criteria. Conclusions: Our findings in males support the hypothesis that the balance between fetal nutritional demand and maternal nutritional supply has implications for future lipid profiles. The lack of significant associations in females adds to mounting evidence for sex differences in lipid metabolism programming, and may reflect sex differences in fetal nutritional demand.

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Section: Sex Differences In Lipid Programming: Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A supply–demand model of fetal energy sufficiency predicts lipid profiles in male but not female Filipino adolescents

Kuzawa

Adair²

2004

Eur J Clin Nutr

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“…Whether this altered steroidogenesis in prenatally stressed males will be a factor in future reproductive capacity is not known, but it warrants further investigation. Reduced testosterone levels are of particular interest, since in rats prenatal stress exposure blocks the normal prenatal surge in circulating testosterone levels that occurs in male foetuses in late gestation (Ward & Weisz 1980), and Effects of social stress during pregnancy this block results in the demasculinisation and feminisation of sexual behaviours in adulthood (Ward 1972). Moreover, given that testosterone is known to exert inhibitory actions over HPA axis activity and anxiety behaviour (Handa et al 1994, Edinger & Frye 2005, reduced testosterone levels in prenatally stressed male pigs may predict a propensity for increased stress reactivity (as has been described above for female prenatally stressed pigs).…”

Section: Effects On the Reproductive Axis And Reproductive Behavioursmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of maternal exposure to social stress during pregnancy: consequences for mother and offspring

2013

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A suboptimal in utero environment, for example, as a result of maternal stress, can have detrimental effects on the pregnancy and long-term adverse 'programming' effects on the offspring. This article focuses on the effects of prenatal social stress on the mother, her pregnancy and the offspring, since these issues have ethological relevance in both animals and humans. The consequences of social stress exposure depend on when during pregnancy the stress occurs, and many of the effects on the offspring are sex specific. Social stress during early pregnancy tends to result in pregnancy loss, whereas stress exposure later in pregnancy, when the mother has already invested considerable resources in the foetuses, results in programmed offspring of low birth weight: a risk factor for various adulthood diseases. Neuroendocrine and behavioural responses to stress in the offspring are particularly sensitive to foetal programming by prenatal stress, indicated by enhanced hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses and increased anxiety behaviour, which result from permanent changes in the offspring's brain. The dysregulation of HPA axis function may also interfere with other systems, for example, the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, as there is evidence for alterations in steroidogenesis, reproductive potential and impaired reproductive/social behaviours in prenatally stressed offspring. Prenatal social stress also programmes future maternal behaviour, highlighting the potential for negative phenotypes to be transmitted to future generations. The possible mechanisms through which maternal stress during pregnancy is transmitted to the foetuses and the foetal brain is programmed by prenatal stress and the potential to overwrite programming of the offspring are discussed.Reproduction (2013) 146 R175-R189

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“…Recently, the effect of gonadal hormones, particularly androgens, on the development of nonreproductive organs such as brain, liver, and adrenal cortex has been a topic of investigation (3, 10, 11). Testosterone levels are higher in male fetuses than in female fetuses (6), and in rabbits and rats the difference is greatest just prior to the time when the surge in pulmonary surfactant production has been shown to begin (20,21). Hence, testosterone may be involved in the delayed timing of pulmonary surfactant maturation of the male.…”

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confidence: 98%

Sex Differences in Fetal Rabbit Pulmonary Surfactant Production

Nielsen

Torday

1981

Pediatr Res

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Summary MATERIALS AND METHODSMale infants have a higher risk of respiratory distress syndrome New Zealand White rabbit does were mated between 0900 and than females at concurrent gestations. Recent evidence in humans 1200 hr and sacrificed between these hours on day 24, 26, 28, or has linked fetal sex with differences in amniotic fluid indices of 30 of gestation (day 0 = day of mating; term = 31 days). Does lung maturation. We tested the hypothesis that the late gestation were sacrificed with an intravenous injection of pentobarbital (180 surge in pulmonary surfactant production occurs later in the male mg). The uterus was then exposed, and the fetuses were sacrificed fetus than in the female fetus in the rabbit model. We measured with 30 mg of pentobarbital intraperitoneally, injected through saturated phosphatidylcholine and total phosphatidylcholine in the uterine wall. AF was obtained on each fetus by puncturing the lung lavage a t 26, 28, and 30 days gestation and in amniotic fluid fetal membranes after dissecting away the uterine wall. Each fetus a t 24,26,28, and 30 days gestation (term = 31 days). The saturated was weighed and then tracheostomized, and LL was obtained by phosphatidylcholine/sphingomyelin ratios were 158 and 55% lavaging the lungs with 5 X 0.5 ml of 0.9% iced NaCl solution. We higher in female fetal lung lavage a t 26 and 28 days, respectively, were unable to obtain reliable LL samples on 24 day gestation and 75% higher in amniotic fluid at 28 days (P < 0.05). The total fetuses. Bloody LL or AF samples were discarded. Fetal sex was phosphatidylcholine/sphingomyelin ratios were 39% higher in fe-determined by inspection of the gonads and confirmed histologimale fetal lung lavage and 35% higher in female amniotic fluid a t cally.28 days (P < 0.05). Significant differences were not detected in Thereopment which is directly related to an increase in morbidity and fore, the results are expressed as the ratio of PC or SPC to S (PC/ mortality in the newborn. Further investigations using this model and SPC/S ratios). may help to define the mechanism by which the sex difference in A11 statistical comparisons were made using Student's t test. fetal lung maturation occurs. This may lead to development of better methods for preventing respiratory distress syndrome in the RESULTS premature infant. Understanding the causes of the male disadvantage for respiratory distress syndrome may also help to define the There were differences between the n~ean male and female causes of the male disadvantage for a variety of other disorders.weights at each point in gestation studied (data not shown). Figure 1 shows the results for the PC/S and SPC/S ratios for both sexes in LL and AF at each point in gestation. In the SPC/S ratio, Males are at greater risk than females for a variety of diseases there is a significant difference between the males and females and have higher age-specific mortality rates, a phenomenon characterized by a later rise in the SPC/S ratio in the male fetus. termed the male disadvantage. The ...

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Maternal Stress Alters Plasma Testosterone in Fetal Males

Cited by 358 publications

References 18 publications

A supply–demand model of fetal energy sufficiency predicts lipid profiles in male but not female Filipino adolescents

A supply–demand model of fetal energy sufficiency predicts lipid profiles in male but not female Filipino adolescents

Effects of maternal exposure to social stress during pregnancy: consequences for mother and offspring

Sex Differences in Fetal Rabbit Pulmonary Surfactant Production

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