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Fetal Origins of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

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Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Part of the book series: Contemporary Endocrinology ((COE))

Summary

While the origins of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in humans are still debated, animal models reliably implicate a fetal origin. Androgen excess, one of the key diagnostic criteria for PCOS and one of its most reliably inherited traits, programs reproductive, adrenal and metabolic organs and tissues during fetal development, producing adult pathology that closely mimics PCOS. Differential gestational timing of androgen excess may also account for heterogeneity in the adult PCOS phenotype. Our fetal or developmental origins hypothesis predicts that development of therapeutic interventions designed to circumvent fetal programming by gestational androgen excess could well eliminate adult PCOS phenotypes.

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Authors
  1. David H. Abbott PHD
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  2. Cristin M. Bruns MD
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  3. Deborah K. Barnett PHD
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  4. Alice F. Tarantal PHD
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  5. Sarah M. Hoffmann MD
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  6. Rao Zhou MD
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  7. Jon E. Levine MD
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  8. Daniel A. Dumesic MD
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

    Andrea Dunaif MD

  2. Department of Reproductive Medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA

    R. Jeffrey Chang MD

  3. Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Stephen Franks MD, FMEDSCI

  4. Department of Ob/Gyn, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA

    Richard S. Legro MD

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© 2008 Humana Press

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Abbott, D.H. et al. (2008). Fetal Origins of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. In: Dunaif, A., Chang, R.J., Franks, S., Legro, R.S. (eds) Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Contemporary Endocrinology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-108-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-108-6_6

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

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