Endocrine disruption in sexual differentiation and puberty. What do pseudohermaphroditic polar bears have to do with the practice of pediatrics?
What do pseudohermaphroditic polar bears and girls with premature breast development have in common? Hormones. Sexual differentiation and the initiation of secondary sexual characteristics, such as breast growth, are both under the control of the sex hormones estrogen and androgen. Abnormal differentiation of the internal or external genitalia in bears and early onset of breast development in girls also may have a common element--exposure to environmental hormones.
Gulledge
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CC
Center for Bioenvironmental Research, Tulane and Xavier Universities, Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. cgulled@tulane.edu
Burow
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ME
McLachlan
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JA
D000293:Adolescent; D000489:Alligators and Crocodiles; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D002648:Child; D012734:Disorders of Sex Development / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004700:Endocrine System Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004782:Environmental Health; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics; D011627:Puberty / Q000502:physiology*; D046048:Seals, Earless; D012733:Sex Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D001503:Ursidae
D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones