Scientists have identified a link between exposure to high levels of oestrogen sex hormones in the womb and the likelihood of developing autism. The findings are published today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
The discovery adds further evidence to support the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism first proposed 20 years ago.
In 2015, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge and the State Serum Institute in Denmark measured the levels of four prenatal steroid hormones, including two known as androgens, in the amniotic fluid in the womb and discovered that they were higher in male foetuses who later developed autism.
These androgens are produced in higher quantities in male than in female foetuses on average, so might also explain why autism occurs more often in boys. They are also known to masculinise parts of the brain, and to have effects on the number of connections between brain cells.
Today, the same scientists have built on their previous findings by testing the amniotic fluid samples from the same 98 individuals sampled from the Danish Biobank, which has collected amniotic samples from over 100,000 pregnancies, but this time looking at another set of prenatal sex steroid hormones called oestrogens. This is an important next step because some of the hormones previously studied are directly converted into oestrogens.
All four oestrogens were significantly elevated, on average, in the 98 foetuses who later developed autism, compared to the 177 foetuses who did not. High levels of prenatal oestrogens were even more predictive of likelihood of autism than were high levels of prenatal androgens (such as testosterone). Contrary to popular belief that associates oestrogens with feminisation, prenatal oestrogens have effects on brain growth and also masculinise the brain in many mammals.
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, who led this study and who first proposed the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism, said: “This new finding supports the idea that increased prenatal sex steroid hormones are one of the potential causes for the condition. Genetics is well established as another, and these hormones likely interact with genetic factors to affect the developing foetal brain.”
Alex Tsompanidis, a PhD student in Cambridge who worked on the study, said: “These elevated hormones could be coming from the mother, the baby or the placenta. Our next step should be to study all these possible sources and how they interact during pregnancy.”
Dr Alexa Pohl, part of the Cambridge team, said: “This finding is exciting because the role of oestrogens in autism has hardly been studied, and we hope that we can learn more about how they contribute to foetal brain development in further experiments. We still need to see whether the same result holds true in autistic females.”
However, the team cautioned that these findings cannot and should not be used to screen for autism. “We are interested in understanding autism, not preventing it,” added Professor Baron- Cohen.
Dr Arieh Cohen, the biochemist on the team, based at the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen, said: “This is a terrific example of how a unique biobank set up 40 years ago is still reaping scientific fruit today in unimagined ways, through international collaboration.”
The research was supported by the Autism Research Trust, the Medical Research Council, and Wellcome.
Reference
Baron-Cohen, S et al. Foetal oestrogens and autism. Molecular Psychiatry; 29 July 2019; DOI: 10.1038/s41380-019-0454-9
DESCUBRE:>>>>>>>>>>>
You made a few good points there. I did a search on the issue and found nearly all folks will consent with your blog.
F*ckin’ awesome things here. I am very satisfied to see your post. Thank you a lot and i am having a look ahead to contact you. Will you please drop me a mail?
F*ckin’ amazing things here. I am very satisfied to peer your article. Thanks a lot and i am looking ahead to touch you. Will you please drop me a mail?
I conceive this internet site contains very excellent indited content material blog posts.
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?
I think what you published was very reasonable.
But, think on this, suppose you composed a catchier
post title? I ain’t suggesting your information isn’t solid., however what if you added something to possibly grab people’s attention? I mean High
levels of oestrogen in the womb linked to autism ⋆ AUTISMO : MAS
para el AUTISMO ⋆ AUTISMOAUTISMO : MAS para el AUTISMO is kinda plain. You might peek at
Yahoo’s front page and watch how they create post
titles to get viewers to click. You might add a video or a related pic or two to grab readers excited about everything’ve got to say.
Just my opinion, it might bring your website a
little bit more interesting. asmr 0mniartist
Hi to every one, it’s truly a pleasant for me to pay a quick
visit this web site, it consists of priceless Information. asmr 0mniartist
This website was… how do I say it? Relevant!!
Finally I have found something that helped me.
Thanks! 0mniartist asmr
Howdy would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re working with?
I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m
having a tough time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and
I’m looking for something completely unique.
P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to
ask! asmr 0mniartist
Hi, I do think this is an excellent site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I may return once again since I saved as a favorite it.
Money and freedom is the greatest way to change, may you
be rich and continue to help other people.
Hello, I wish for to subscribe for this weblog to obtain most up-to-date updates, thus where can i do it please
assist.
Hello, all the time i used to check website posts here early
in the break of day, as i love to gain knowledge of more and more.
Link exchange is nothing else except it is simply placing the other person’s web
site link on your page at suitable place and other person will also do same in favor of you.
If some one wants to be updated with most up-to-date technologies therefore he must be visit this web page and be
up to date daily.
Hi, I do believe your site could possibly be having internet
browser compatibility issues. Whenever I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine
however when opening in Internet Explorer, it’s
got some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to provide you with a quick heads up!
Besides that, great website!
Greate pieces. Keep posting such kind of information on your page.
Im really impressed by it.
Hey there, You’ve performed a great job. I’ll definitely digg it and for my part suggest to my friends.
I am sure they’ll be benefited from this site.
scoliosis
My spouse and I stumbled over here different web page and thought I may as well check things
out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to exploring
your web page yet again. scoliosis
After I originally left a comment I appear to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added-
checkbox and from now on every time a comment is added I receive 4 emails with the exact same comment.
There has to be a means you are able to remove me from that service?
Kudos!
I blog frequently and I seriously thank you for your content.
The article has really peaked my interest. I’m going to book mark your website and keep checking for new information about once per week.
I subscribed to your Feed as well.
Great post. I am facing a couple of these problems.
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several
e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
Bless you!
Hi there I am so delighted I found your blog,
I really found you by accident, while I was browsing on Google for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just
like to say kudos for a tremendous post and a
all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read it all at the moment but I have book-marked it
and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to
read a lot more, Please do keep up the great job.
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t
show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over
again. Regardless, just wanted to say excellent blog!
Fascinating blog! Is your theme custom made or did you
download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a
few simple adjustements would really make my blog shine.
Please let me know where you got your theme.
With thanks
In fact no matter if someone doesn’t be aware of
then its up to other visitors that they will help, so here it happens.
My brother suggested I might like this website. He was once entirely right.
This publish truly made my day. You cann’t believe simply how so
much time I had spent for this info! Thank you!
Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after checking through some of the post I realized it’s new to
me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!
I think that is among the most important information for
me. And i am satisfied reading your article.
But should statement on few basic things, The website style is ideal,
the articles is really great : D. Just right task, cheers
Wonderful goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too excellent.
I really like what you have acquired here, certainly
like what you are saying and the way in which you say it.
You make it enjoyable and you still care for to keep it smart.
I can’t wait to read far more from you. This is really a terrific web site.
Actually when someone doesn’t know after that its up to other visitors that
they will assist, so here it takes place.
If some one wants expert view regarding blogging and site-building then i propose
him/her to pay a visit this webpage, Keep up the nice work.
Hi there, I discovered your web site by the use of Google even as looking for a comparable subject, your site came up,
it looks good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hello there, just turned into alert to your blog through Google, and located that it is really
informative. I am going to be careful for brussels.
I’ll appreciate in the event you proceed this in future.
A lot of other people will be benefited out of your writing.
Cheers! cheap flights http://1704milesapart.tumblr.com/ cheap
flights
Good day! This is kind of off topic but I need some help
from an established blog. Is it hard to set up your own blog?
I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty
quick. I’m thinking about creating my own but I’m not sure where to start.
Do you have any points or suggestions? Cheers scoliosis surgery
https://0401mm.tumblr.com/ scoliosis surgery
Hi there, this weekend is pleasant in favor of me, because this
point in time i am reading this impressive
educational post here at my residence. quest bars http://tinyurl.com/49u8p8w7 quest bars
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I truly appreciate your efforts and I am waiting for your further post thank you once again. quest bars https://www.iherb.com/search?kw=quest%20bars quest bars
Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem along with your web site in web explorer, might
check this? IE nonetheless is the market chief and
a good part of other folks will pass over your wonderful writing due to this problem.
scoliosis surgery https://coub.com/stories/962966-scoliosis-surgery scoliosis surgery
This post offers clear idea in favor of the new viewers of blogging, that really how to do blogging.
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest
but your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go
ahead and bookmark your site to come back down the road.
Cheers
Greetings! I know this is somewhat off topic
but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form?
I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m
having problems finding one? Thanks a lot!
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my site thus i came to “return the favor”.I’m trying to find things to improve my website!I suppose its ok to
use a few of your ideas!!
It’s going to be ending of mine day, however before ending I am reading
this great post to improve my know-how.
Valuable info. Fortunate me I found your site by chance, and I’m shocked why
this twist of fate didn’t happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
https://amd1080.com/first/
Great post! Blog commenting is an acquired skill which depends on a couple of factors which are very well explained and articulated especially favourable circumstances to comment on blogs.
https://main7.net/baca/
Great idea for a blog. I can’t see how you’re going to monetise this type of content. Maybe you should not think about making money from this site and just concentrate on helping people. Build up an audience that trust you, that finds your content resourceful. Then you can think about getting charities and organisations to sponsor your site, maybe sell ad space on sidebars, headers etc.
Hi there to all, the contents present at this web page are truly remarkable
for people experience, well, keep up the good work
fellows.
I’m not sure exactly why but this web site is loading very
slow for me. Is anyone else having this problem or is it a
issue on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
Excellent blog here! Also your web site loads up fast! What web host are you using?
Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my web site loaded up as fast
as yours lol
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my blog so i came to “return the favor”.I am
trying to find things to enhance my website!I suppose its ok to use a few of
your ideas!!
Have you ever considered about adding a little bit more than just your
articles? I mean, what you say is fundamental and everything.
Nevertheless think of if you added some great pictures or video clips to
give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and
video clips, this blog could undeniably be one of the greatest in its niche.
Very good blog!
Excellent blog here! Also your website loads
up very fast! What host are you using? Can I get your
affiliate link to your host? I wish my web site loaded up as fast as yours lol
I blog frequently and I seriously thank you for your
content. This great article has really peaked my interest.
I will bookmark your blog and keep checking for new information about
once a week. I opted in for your Feed as well.