Free dehydroepiandrosterone and testosterone in human amniotic fluid and prediction of gonadal sex.
In order to correlate the gonadal production of male sex hormones with overall steroidogenic activity of the fetus, unconjugated dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and testosterone were measured in amniotic fluids from mid-pregnancies with male and female fetuses by highly specific radioimmunoassay. The antiserum was raised in rabbits with 3 beta-hydroxy-17-oxo-5-androsten- 19-al 19-carboxymethyloxime BSA as immunogen and its cross-reactions with several steroids were checked. Significantly higher testosterone level was found in amniotic fluid from male fetuses (average concentration 249 +/- 109 pg ml-1 from males as compared with 70 +/- pg ml-1 from females), whereas the difference in DHEA concentration was significant (184 +/- 96 pg mol-1 for males vs. 177 +/- 92 pg ml-1 for females). The positive correlation between testosterone and DHEA concentrations (r = 0.53) was found only in amniotic fluids from pregnancies bearing male fetuses indicating that in males more DHEA may originate from fetal gonads.
D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000032:analysis*; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012732:Sex Determination Analysis; D013739:Testosterone / Q000032:analysis*
D013739:Testosterone; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone