Prenatal Androgen Excess Induces Multigenerational Effects on Female and Male Descendants

Giselle Adriana Abruzzese; Silvana Rocio Ferreira; Maria José Ferrer; Aimé Florencia Silva; Alicia Beatriz Motta

doi:10.1177/11795514231196461

Prenatal Androgen Excess Induces Multigenerational Effects on Female and Male Descendants

Clin Med Insights Endocrinol Diabetes. 2023 Sep 11:16:11795514231196461. doi: 10.1177/11795514231196461. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Giselle Adriana Abruzzese¹, Silvana Rocio Ferreira^{1

2}, Maria José Ferrer¹, Aimé Florencia Silva¹, Alicia Beatriz Motta¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratorio de Fisio-patología ovárica, Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos (CEFYBO), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
² Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.

Abstract

Background: It is still unelucidated how hormonal alterations affect developing organisms and their descendants. Particularly, the effects of androgen levels are of clinical relevance as they are usually high in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Moreover, it is still unknown how androgens may affect males' health and their descendants.

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the multigenerational effect of prenatal androgen excess until a second generation at early developmental stages considering both maternal and paternal effects.

Design and methods: This is an animal model study. Female rats (F0) were exposed to androgens during pregnancy by injections of 1 mg of testosterone to obtain prenatally hyperandrogenized (PH) animals (F1), leading to a well-known animal model that resembles PCOS features. A control (C) group was obtained by vehicle injections. The PH-F1 animals were crossed with C males (m) or females (f) and C animals were also mated, thus obtaining 3 different mating groups: Cf × Cm, PHf × Cm, Cf × PHm and their offspring (F2).

Results: F1-PHf presented altered glucose metabolism and lipid profile compared to F1-C females. In addition, F1-PHf showed an increased time to mating with control males compared to the C group. At gestational day 14, we found alterations in glucose and total cholesterol serum levels and in the placental size of the pregnant F1-PHf and Cf mated to F1-PHm. The F2 offspring resulting from F1-PH mothers or fathers showed alterations in their growth, size, and glucose metabolism up to early post-natal development in a sex-dependent manner, being the females born to F1-PHf the most affected ones.

Conclusion: androgen exposure during intrauterine life leads to programing effects in females and males that affect offspring health in a sex-dependent manner, at least up-to a second generation. In addition, this study suggests paternally mediated effects on the F2 offspring development.

Keywords: DOHaD; PCOS; developmental programing; hyperandrogenization; maternal inheritance; paternal inheritance; pregnancy.