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Circulating anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) associates with the maturity of boys’ drawings: Does AMH slow cognitive development in males?

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Abstract

Purpose

High levels of circulating anti-Müllerian hormone are unique to developing males, but the function of anti-Müllerian hormone in boys is unknown. In mice, anti-Müllerian hormone contributes to the male biases in the brain, but its receptors are present throughout non-sexually dimorphic portions of the brain. In humans, the speed of maturation is the most overt difference between girls and boys. We postulate that this is because anti-Müllerian hormone slows the maturation of the male human brain.

Methods

One hundred and fourty three 5-year or 6-year-old boys and 38 age-matched girls drew a person and donated a blood sample. The children’s drawings were blind-scored to generate a maturity index. The level of anti-Müllerian hormone and the other Sertoli cell hormone, inhibin B, were measured by ELISA. The relationship between the children’s age, hormones and maturity index were examined by linear regression analysis.

Results

The girls drew more complex and realistic person than the boys (32%, p = 0.001), with their drawings also being larger (39%, p = 0.037) and more coloured-in (235%, p = 0.0005). The maturity index in boys correlated with age (+r = 0.43, p < 0.0005) and anti-Müllerian hormone level (−r = −0.29, p < 0.0005). The association between maturity index and anti-Müllerian hormone level persisted when corrected for age and for inhibin B (r = −0.24, p = 0.0005). The calculated effect of the median level of anti-Müllerian hormone (1 nM) was equal to 0.81 months of development. The size and colouring of the drawings did not correlate with the boys’ age, anti-Müllerian hormone or inhibin B.

Conclusions

This exploratory study provides the first indicative evidence that circulating anti-Müllerian hormone may influence the development of the human brain.

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Acknowledgements

We thank N. Batchelor for help with measurements of hormones and F. Imhoff, K. Sharma and M. Weimar for assistance in preparing serum. The children and their parents are thanked for participating in the study.

Funding

The Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand supported this work (http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/funds/marsden/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Authors’ contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: K.M., T.R., D.K.B., I.S.M. Performed the experiments: K.M., I.S.M. Analysed the data: K.M., T.R., D.K. B., I.S.M. Draughted the paper: I.S.M. Approved the final version of the paper: K.M., T.R., D.K.B., I.S.M.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, P.O. Box 913, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand

    Kirstie Morgan & Ian S. McLennan

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand

    Kirstie Morgan, Ted Ruffman & David K. Bilkey

  3. Brain Health Research Centre, Dunedin, New Zealand

    David K. Bilkey & Ian S. McLennan

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  1. Kirstie Morgan
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  2. Ted Ruffman
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Correspondence to Ian S. McLennan.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Otago and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

The parents of all study participants gave written informed consent, and the project was approved by the University of Otago Human Ethics Committee.

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Morgan, K., Ruffman, T., Bilkey, D.K. et al. Circulating anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) associates with the maturity of boys’ drawings: Does AMH slow cognitive development in males?. Endocrine 57, 528–534 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-017-1333-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-017-1333-2

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