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The Influences of Perinatal Androgenic Exposure on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease of Offspring of PCOS

  • Reproductive Endocrinology: Review
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Abstract

Hyperandrogenism is an endocrine disorder affecting a large population of reproductive-aged women, thus proportionally high number of fetuses are subjected to prenatal androgenic exposure (PNA). The short-term stimulations at critical ontogenetic stages can wield lasting influences on the health. The most commonly diagnosed conditions in reproductive age women is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PNA may affect the growth and development of many systems in the whole body and disrupts the normal metabolic trajectory in the offspring of PCOS, contributing to the prevalence of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (CVMD), including myocardial hypertrophy, hypertension, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, obesity, and dyslipidemia, which are the leading causes of hospitalizations in young PCOS offspring. In this review, we focus on the effects of prenatal androgenic exposure on the cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in offspring, discuss the possible pathogenesis respectively, and summarize potential management strategies to improve metabolic health of PCOS offspring. It is expected that the incidence of CVMD and the medical burden will be reduced in the future.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82071731), Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (21Y11907600), Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and family planning (20215Y0216), Technology Commission of Quzhou Municipality (2022K54) and CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (2019-I2M-5-064).

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Author notes

  1. The authors Fei Guo and Suqing Mao contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Reproduction and Development, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Fei Guo, Yuhang Long, Bokang Zhou, Ling Gao & Hefeng Huang

  2. Research Units of Embryo Original Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shanghai, China

    Fei Guo, Yuhang Long, Bokang Zhou, Ling Gao & Hefeng Huang

  3. The Quzhou Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Quzhou People’s Hospital, Quzhou, China

    Suqing Mao

  4. Key Laboratory of Reproductive Genetics (Ministry of Education), Department of Reproductive Endocrinology, Women’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

    Ling Gao & Hefeng Huang

  5. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Embryo Original Diseases, Shanghai, China

    Hefeng Huang

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  1. Fei Guo
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  2. Suqing Mao
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  3. Yuhang Long
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Contributions

FG took part in the literature retrieval and wrote the original draft. SQM finished the manuscript revision and draw figures. YHL took part in the literature retrieval. BKZ edited the draft and draw figures. HFH and LG conceived the idea, supervised implementation, and checked the writing of the essay. All authors state that the material contained in the manuscript has not been published and has not been submitted elsewhere for publication.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ling Gao or Hefeng Huang.

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Guo, F., Mao, S., Long, Y. et al. The Influences of Perinatal Androgenic Exposure on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease of Offspring of PCOS. Reprod. Sci. 30, 3179–3189 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-023-01286-w

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