Fetal plasma testosterone correlates positively with cortisol
Open accessAbstract
Background: Fetal exposure to testosterone has been implicated in programming childhood behaviour, but little is known about the determinants of fetal testosterone concentrations. Aims: To investigate the relation between fetal testosterone and maternal and fetal cortisol. Methods: Clinically indicated blood samples taken from 44 human fetuses (mean gestational age 27 weeks, range 15–38), together with paired maternal samples, were analysed for testosterone and cortisol concentrations. Results: Male fetuses had significantly higher concentrations of testosterone than females. Female but not male fetal concentrations rose significantly with gestational age. Fetal testosterone correlated positively with both fetal cortisol and maternal testosterone concentrations. Multiple regression showed that maternal testosterone and fetal cortisol were independently correlated with fetal plasma testosterone in both sexes. Conclusion: Unlike the norm in the adult, where testosterone production is often inhibited by cortisol, in the fetus there is a positive link between the two.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Fetal plasma testosterone concentration is positively correlated with maternal testosterone.
“As a lipid-soluble hormone, testosterone is thought to be able to cross the placenta and this notion is supported by data showing that fetal plasma testosterone concentration is positively correlated with maternal testosterone [126].”
From Developmental programming of offspring adipose tissue biology and obesity risk (2021) · cites this paper as [126]
Cites
Maternal antenatal anxiety and children's behavioural/emotional problems at 4 years
O'Connor, T. G., Heron, J., Golding, J., Beveridge, M., & Glover, V. (2002) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.180.6.502 · Cited by 1,070 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Van den Bergh, B. R. H., Mulder, E. J. H., Mennes, M., & Glover, V. (2005) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.10.007 · Cited by 1,104 · see citing works
Self-citationElevated fetal steroidogenic activity in autism
Baron-Cohen, S., Auyeung, B., Nørgaard-Pedersen, B., Hougaard, D. M., Abdallah, M. W., Melgaard, L., Cohen, A. S., Chakrabarti, B., Ruta, L., & Lombardo, M. V. (2015) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/mp.2014.48 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
Early androgen exposure and human gender development
Hines, M., Constantinescu, M., & Spencer, D. (2015) · Biology of Sex Differences · doi:10.1186/s13293-015-0022-1 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Prenatal programming of postnatal plasticity?
Pluess, M., & Belsky, J. (2011) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579410000623 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Prenatal testosterone and gender-related behaviour
Hines, M. (2006) · European Journal of Endocrinology · doi:10.1530/eje.1.02236 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Developmental programming of offspring adipose tissue biology and obesity risk
Rodgers, A., & Sferruzzi-Perri, A. N. (2021) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/s41366-021-00790-w · Cited by 57 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gitau, R., Adams, D., Fisk, N. M., & Glover, V
- Affiliations
- Imperial College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Glover, V
- Venue
- Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2005-02-21
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- F166-F169
- ISSN
- 1359-2998 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2052
- PMC
- PMC1721847
- OpenAlex
- W1986416817
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 2.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Archives of Disease in Childhood Fetal & Neonatal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Sexual Differentiation and Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Hormonal and reproductive studies
- Keywords
- fetal testosterone, fetal cortisol, maternal testosterone, gestational age, fetal programming, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Blood Transfusion, Intrauterine, Female, Fetal Blood, Gestational Age, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Male, Mothers, Pregnancy, Regression Analysis, Sex Factors, Testosterone
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
