Mena M A, Arriaza C A, Tchernitchin A N
Department of Experimental Morphology, University of Chile Medical School, Santiago.
Biol Reprod. 1992 Jun;46(6):1080-5. doi: 10.1095/biolreprod46.6.1080.
Exposure of animals perinatally to some hormonally active agents may imprint permanent changes on the action of related hormones. The present study investigated the effects of early postnatal androgenization on various genomic responses to estrogen in the uterus of prepubertal rats. Female rats were androgenized at postnatal ages of 1, 5, or 13 days with a single s.c. injection of testosterone propionate. At the age of 21 days, the animals were stimulated with estrogens. The uteri of androgenized and control rats were analyzed morphometrically to measure genomic parameters of estrogen stimulation in the uterus. The results demonstrate that early postnatal androgenization does not equally affect all uterine cell types and that the effects of androgenization change according to the age at androgenization. The dissociation between the various responses according to the time of androgenization suggests that there are critical ages at which the uterine cell types that respond to estrogens can be altered permanently by imprinting. The finding of changes in the action of estrogen induced by androgenization at older than neonatal ages in the rat suggests that similar changes may occur in humans exposed to androgens during their extrauterine life. This result also points to the need for further studies using the rhesus monkey because of its close resemblance to the human with respect to female reproductive physiology.
围产期使动物接触某些具有激素活性的物质，可能会给相关激素的作用留下永久性改变。本研究调查了出生后早期雄激素化对青春期前大鼠子宫中雌激素各种基因组反应的影响。雌性大鼠在出生后1天、5天或13天通过单次皮下注射丙酸睾酮进行雄激素化。在21日龄时，用雌激素刺激这些动物。对雄激素化大鼠和对照大鼠的子宫进行形态计量分析，以测量子宫中雌激素刺激的基因组参数。结果表明，出生后早期雄激素化对所有子宫细胞类型的影响并不相同，且雄激素化的影响会根据雄激素化时的年龄而变化。根据雄激素化时间不同而出现的各种反应之间的分离表明，存在关键年龄，在这些年龄，对雌激素有反应的子宫细胞类型可能会因印记而发生永久性改变。在大鼠出生后而非新生期进行雄激素化可诱导雌激素作用发生变化，这一发现表明，在宫外生活期间接触雄激素的人类可能也会发生类似变化。这一结果还表明，由于恒河猴在雌性生殖生理方面与人类极为相似，因此有必要用恒河猴开展进一步研究。
