Endocrine Abstracts

PCOS typically presents in adolescence. Whilst early diagnosis is important, symptoms and signs (anovulatory cycles, menstrual irregularities, acne) reflect a continuum on a background genetic predisposition and can be difficult to distinguish at an early stage from normal adolescent maturation. Major clinical stigmata – persistent menstrual irregularities (oligo- and amenorrhoea) and hirsutism and acne due to hyperandrogenism – can be very distressing.<p class="...

Testicular dysgenesis syndrome (TDS) is a group of associated conditions (testicular germ cell tumours (TGCT), cryptorchidism, hypospadias and low sperm counts) that are thought to have a common origin in fetal life. Exposure of fetal rats to environmental chemicals such as the endocrine disrupting chemical di(n-butyl) phthalate (DBP) results in a TDS-like syndrome. However, exposed rats do not develop TGCT and the rodent is a poor model in this context. The effects of ...

Background: Endocrine disruption in the human fetal testis by environmental agents has been proposed as a possible cause of testicular dysgenesis syndrome (TDS) comprising male reproductive disorders such as testicular germ cell tumours (TGCT), cryptorchidism, hypospadias and low sperm counts. Exposure of fetal rats to the widely used plasticizer di(n-butyl) phthalate (DBP) results in a TDS-like syndrome due to a reduction in testosterone production. Whether such effects also ...