ReviewInternational journal of molecular sciences2021
The Enigma of the Adrenarche: Identifying the Early Life Mechanisms and Possible Role in Postnatal Brain Development.
Review in International journal of molecular sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Androgen levels in autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Pooled it
- Increases in fecal testosterone precede increases in fecal dehydroepiandrosterone in wild male mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei).Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2026Article
- Adrenal AKR1C3-mediated androgen activation contributes to hyperandrogenism in prepubertal ovariectomized rats.Translational pediatrics · 2026Article
- Timing matters: a prospective investigation of father absence and pubertal timing in girls and boys.Biology of sex differences · 2026Article
- Adrenarche as a regulator of sensitivity to early adversity.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Review
- Elevated expression of immune checkpoints and pro-inflammatory cytokines as potential biomarkers in pediatric Vulvar Lichen Sclerosus.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Neuroactive steroids in the programming of neurodevelopment: implications of maternal obesity.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- Associations Among Birth Weight, Adrenarche, Brain Morphometry, and Cognitive Function in Preterm Children Ages 9 to 11 Years.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2024Article
- Mothers' prenatal distress accelerates adrenal pubertal development in daughters.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- The adipose tissue keeps the score: priming of the adrenal-adipose tissue axis by early life stress predisposes women to obesity and cardiometabolic risk.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Review
- Cognitive development from infancy to young adulthood in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus): Effect of age, sex, and hormones on learning and affective state.Developmental psychobiology · 2023Article
- Sex and age variations in the impact of puberty on cortical thickness and associations with internalizing symptoms and suicidal ideation in early adolescence.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2023Article
- Prenatal paternal anxiety symptoms predict child DHEA levels and internalizing symptoms during adrenarche.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2023Article
- The Roles of Androgens in Humans: Biology, Metabolic Regulation and Health.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfated metabolite (DHEAS) are dynamically regulated before birth and the onset of puberty. Yet, the origins and purpose of increasing DHEA[S] in postnatal development remain elusive. Here, we draw attention to this pre-pubertal surge from the adrenal gland-the adrenarche-and discuss whether this is the result of intra-adrenal gene expression specifically affecting the zona reticularis (ZR), if the ZR is influenced by the hypothalamic-pituitary axis, and the possible role of spino-sympathetic innervation in prompting increased ZR activity. We also discuss whether neural DHEA[S] synthesis is coordinately regulated with the developing adrenal gland. We propose that DHEA[S] is crucial in the brain maturation of humans prior to and during puberty, and suggest that the function of the adrenarche is to modulate, adapt and rewire the pre-adolescent brain for new and ever-changing social challenges. The etiology of DHEA[S] synthesis, neurodevelopment and recently described 11-keto and 11-oxygenated androgens are difficult to investigate in humans owing to: (i) ethical restrictions on mechanistic studies, (ii) the inability to predict which individuals will develop specific mental characteristics, and (iii) the difficulty of conducting retrospective studies based on perinatal complications. We discuss new opportunities for animal studies to overcome these important issues.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.