ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2015
Maternal testosterone exposure increases anxiety-like behavior and impacts the limbic system in the offspring.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 113 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuropsychiatric disorders in children of mothers with polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of Acupuncture in Alleviating Negative Emotions in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Brain and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Toxoplasma gondii infection and testosterone alteration: A systematic review and meta-analyses.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- Early Postnatal Androgenic Activity Inhibition Produces Differential Long-Term Alterations in Anxiety-Like Behavior in Young Adult Male and Female Wistar Rats.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Nandrolone alters the behavioral response to cocaine as well as striatal and cortical dopamine receptors of prepubertal male rats.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Maternal polycystic ovarian syndrome and offspring psychopathology and neurodevelopment.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2025Review
- Perinatal hypoxia-mediated neurodevelopment abnormalities in congenital heart disease mouse model.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Maternal Hyperandrogenemia and the Long-Term Neuropsychological, Sex Developmental, and Metabolic Effects on Offspring.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Transcriptome analysis of early embryonic development in a mouse model of polycystic ovary syndrome.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Article
- Stress responses to bacterial and viral mimetics in polycystic ovary syndrome model rats.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024Article
- Androgen regulation of behavioral stress responses and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.Hormones and behavior · 2024Review
- Polycystic ovary syndrome.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2024Review
- Placental mRNA Expression of Neurokinin B Is Increased in PCOS Pregnancies with Female Offspring.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Elevated circulating adiponectin levels do not prevent anxiety-like behavior in a PCOS-like mouse model.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Giftedness and atypical sexual differentiation: enhanced perceptual functioning through estrogen deficiency instead of androgen excess.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Review
- The Influences of Perinatal Androgenic Exposure on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease of Offspring of PCOS.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2023Review
- Enhanced pup retrieval behaviour in a mouse model of polycystic ovary syndrome.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- Update on Animal Models of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.Endocrinology · 2022Article
- Maternal diabetes-mediated RORA suppression in mice contributes to autism-like offspring through inhibition of aromatase.Communications biology · 2022Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During pregnancy, women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) display high circulating androgen levels that may affect the fetus and increase the risk of mood disorders in offspring. This study investigated whether maternal androgen excess causes anxiety-like behavior in offspring mimicking anxiety disorders in PCOS. The PCOS phenotype was induced in rats following prenatal androgen (PNA) exposure. PNA offspring displayed anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze, which was reversed by flutamide [androgen receptor (AR) blocker] and tamoxifen [selective estrogen receptor (ER) modulator]. Circulating sex steroids did not differ between groups at adult age. The expression of serotonergic and GABAergic genes associated with emotional regulation in the amygdala was consistent with anxiety-like behavior in female, and partly in male PNA offspring. Furthermore, AR expression in amygdala was reduced in female PNA offspring and also in females exposed to testosterone in adult age. To determine whether AR activation in amygdala affects anxiety-like behavior, female rats were given testosterone microinjections into amygdala, which resulted in anxiety-like behavior. Together, these data describe the anxiety-like behavior in PNA offspring and adult females with androgen excess, an impact that seems to occur during fetal life, and is mediated via AR in amygdala, together with changes in ERα, serotonergic, and GABAergic genes in amygdala and hippocampus. The anxiety-like behavior following testosterone microinjections into amygdala demonstrates a key role for AR activation in this brain area. These results suggest that maternal androgen excess may underpin the risk of developing anxiety disorders in daughters and sons of PCOS mothers.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.