Effects of prenatal stress on the estrous cycle of female offspring as adults.
Stress during gestation significantly increased estrous cycle length in female offspring as adults, primarily by lengthening the estrus-metestrus stage. Therefore, prenatal stress may disturb the hormonal milieu of the female fetus during a critical hypothalamic differentiation stage.
D000818:Animals; D004971:Estrus; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal; D051381:Rats; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*