Instituto de Pesquisa Pelé Pequeno Príncipe, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e50242. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050242. Epub 2012 Dec 19.
The impact of early postnatal androgen exposure on female laryngeal tissue may depend on certain characteristics of this exposure. We assessed the impact of the dose, duration, and timing of early androgen exposure on the vocal development of female subjects who had been treated for adrenocortical tumor (ACT) in childhood.
The long-term effects of androgen exposure on the fundamental vocal frequency (F0), vocal pitch, and final height and the presence of virilizing signs were examined in 9 adult (age, 18.4 to 33.5 years) and 10 adolescent (13.6 to 17.8 years) female ACT patients. We also compared the current values with values obtained 0.9 years to 7.4 years after these subjects had undergone ACT surgery, a period during which they had shown normal androgen levels.
Of the 19 subjects, 17 (89%) had been diagnosed with ACT before 4 years of age, 1 (5%) at 8.16 years, and 1 (5%) at 10.75 years. Androgen exposure (2 to 30 months) was sufficiently strong to cause pubic hair growth in all subjects and clitoromegaly in 74% (14/19) of the subjects, but did not reduce their height from the target value. Although androgen exposure induced a remarkable reduction in F0 (132 Hz) and moderate pitch virilization in 1 subject and partial F0 virilization, resulting in F0 of 165 and 169 Hz, in 2 subjects, the majority had normal F0 ranging from 189 to 245 Hz.
Female laryngeal tissue is less sensitive to androgen exposure between birth and adrenarche than during other periods. Differential larynx sensitivity to androgen exposure in childhood and F0 irreversibility in adulthood are age-, concentration-, duration-, and timing-dependent events that may also be affected by exposure to inhibitory or stimulatory hormones. Further studies are required to better characterize each of these factors.
早期产后雄激素暴露对女性喉组织的影响可能取决于这种暴露的某些特征。我们评估了儿童期接受肾上腺皮质肿瘤（ACT）治疗的女性受试者的雄激素暴露剂量、持续时间和时间对其发声发育的影响。
对 9 名成年（年龄 18.4 至 33.5 岁）和 10 名青少年（13.6 至 17.8 岁）ACT 女性患者的基本发声频率（F0）、音高和最终身高以及出现男性化体征的长期雄激素暴露的影响进行了检查。我们还将当前值与这些患者接受 ACT 手术后 0.9 年至 7.4 年期间获得的值进行了比较，在此期间，他们的雄激素水平正常。
19 名受试者中，17 名（89%）在 4 岁之前被诊断为 ACT，1 名（5%）在 8.16 岁，1 名（5%）在 10.75 岁。雄激素暴露（2 至 30 个月）足以引起所有受试者的阴毛生长和 74%（14/19）的受试者的阴蒂肥大，但没有使身高低于目标值。尽管雄激素暴露导致 1 名受试者的 F0（132 Hz）明显降低和中度音高男性化，以及 2 名受试者的部分 F0 男性化，导致 F0 为 165 和 169 Hz，但大多数受试者的 F0 正常，范围为 189 至 245 Hz。
与其他时期相比，女性喉组织在出生到青春期之间对雄激素暴露的敏感性较低。儿童期喉对雄激素暴露的敏感性差异以及成年期 F0 不可逆转是年龄、浓度、持续时间和时间依赖性事件，也可能受到抑制或刺激激素的影响。需要进一步研究以更好地描述这些因素中的每一个。
