Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 117570, Singapore.
Psychiatry Res. 2010 Mar 30;176(1):8-12. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2009.08.023. Epub 2010 Jan 18.
Sex differences in the onset, epidemiology, clinical presentation and neuropathology of schizophrenia suggest that sexual dimorphism in brain development may be relevant to pathogenesis. Sex hormones, in particular testosterone, are considered to be crucial in brain development, but few investigations have examined the potential role of prenatal testosterone in schizophrenia. In this study, we examined a retrospective marker of prenatal testosterone release - 2D:4D finger length ratio (2D:4D), the relative length of 2nd to 4th digit, in 64 Asian patients with schizophrenia and 64 sex-matched controls. No significant difference in mean finger lengths was present, however 2D:4D ratio was significantly different between patients and controls. The effect was primarily seen in males consistent with a 'less masculinised' pattern and hypotheses suggesting that schizophrenia may be associated with an abnormality in prenatal circulating testosterone.
精神分裂症的发病、流行病学、临床表现和神经病理学存在性别差异，这表明大脑发育的性别二态性可能与发病机制有关。性激素，特别是睾酮，被认为在大脑发育中至关重要，但很少有研究探讨产前睾酮在精神分裂症中的潜在作用。在这项研究中，我们检查了一个反映产前睾酮释放的回溯性标志物——2D:4D 手指长度比（2D:4D），即第二和第四指的相对长度，在 64 名亚洲精神分裂症患者和 64 名性别匹配的对照者中进行了研究。虽然手指长度的平均值没有显著差异，但患者和对照组之间的 2D:4D 比值存在显著差异。这种影响主要见于男性，符合“不够男性化”的模式，这一假说表明，精神分裂症可能与产前循环睾酮异常有关。
