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Dexamethasone increases UDP-glucuronyltransferase activity towards bilirubin, oestradiol and testosterone in foetal liver from rhesus monkey during late gestation.

ABSTRACT: We previously showed that in perinatal rhesus monkeys hepatic UDP-glucuronyltransferase activities appear to develop differentially in two clusters, analogous to those of the rat. We demonstrate here that hepatic UDP-glucuronyltransferase activities differ between the rat and the rhesus monkey in their response to glucocorticoids. Treatment of pregnant rhesus monkeys with dexamethasone during late gestation increases UDP-glucuronyltransferase activities towards bilirubin, oestradiol and testosterone in the foetal-liver microsomal fraction to 25, 4 and 4 times their low control values respectively. Analogous dexamethasone treatment in rat fails to increase these activities significantly in the foetal liver. These findings suggest that maternal glucocorticoid therapy in late gestation could greatly increase the newborn primate's capacity to glucuronidate bilirubin.

SUBMITTER: Leakey JE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1144567 | biostudies-other | 1985 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which are more common in males. The 'prenatal sex steroid' hypothesis links excessive sex-steroid exposure during foetal life with the behavioural differences observed in ASD. However, the reason why sex steroid exposure may be excessive remains unclear. Epidemiological studies have identified several environmental risk factors associated with ASD, including developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency. We have demonstrated in an animal model that DVD-deficiency is associated with a hyper-inflammatory response in placentas from male but not female foetuses. Vitamin D also regulates the expression of several steroidogenic enzymes in vitro. Therefore using this animal model, we have examined whether DVD-deficiency leads to increased sex-steroid levels in both the maternal and foetal compartments.Methods: Female rats are fed a vitamin D deficient diet from 6 weeks before mating until tissue collection at embryonic day 18. We examined the levels of testosterone, androstenedione and corticosterone in maternal plasma, foetal brains and amniotic fluid. We further examined gene expressions of steroidogenic enzymes and DNA methylation of aromatase promoters in foetal brains as a potential molecular mechanism regulating testosterone expression.Results: We show that DVD-deficiency increases testosterone levels in maternal blood. We also show elevated levels of testosterone and androstenedione in the amniotic fluid of female but not male DVD-deficient foetuses. Testosterone levels were also elevated in DVD-deficient male brains. Vitamin D, like other steroid-related hormones, regulates gene expression via methylation. Therefore we examined whether the significant elevation in testosterone in male brains was due to such a potential gene-silencing mechanism. We show that the promoter of aromatase was hyper-methylated compared to male controls.Limitations: A reduction in aromatase, in addition to causing excessive testosterone, could also lead to a reduction in estradiol which was not examined here.Conclusions: This study is the first to show how an epidemiologically established environmental risk factor for ASD may selectively elevate testosterone in male embryonic brains. These findings provide further mechanistic support for the prenatal sex steroid theory of ASD.

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Dexamethasone increases UDP-glucuronyltransferase activity towards bilirubin, oestradiol and testosterone in foetal liver from rhesus monkey during late gestation.

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