TY - JOUR

T1 - A Biphasic Pattern of Reproductive Hormones in Healthy Female Infants

T2 - The COPENHAGEN Minipuberty Study

AU - Ljubicic, Marie L.

AU - Busch, Alexander S.

AU - Upners, Emmie N.

AU - Fischer, Margit B.

AU - Petersen, Jørgen H.

AU - Raket, Lars L.

AU - Frederiksen, Hanne

AU - Johannsen, Trine H.

AU - Juul, Anders

AU - Hagen, Casper P.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Context Minipuberty, a period of a transient activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis in both sexes, enables evaluation of gonadal function in infants suspected of hypogonadism. However, female minipuberty remains poorly elucidated. Objective We aimed to establish continuous reference ranges for the most commonly used reproductive hormones and to evaluate the dynamics of the HPG axis in females aged 0 to 1 year. Design The COPENHAGEN Minipuberty Study (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02784184), a longitudinal, prospective cohort study. Setting Healthy infants from Copenhagen. Patients or Other Participants A total of 98 healthy, term female infants followed with 6 examinations including venipuncture during the first year of life. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Serum concentrations of LH, FSH, inhibin B, anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), and SHBG were quantified using highly sensitive methods in 266 serum samples. Results Reference ranges were established for LH, FSH, inhibin B, AMH, E1, E2, and SHBG. Two peaks were observed in normalized mean curves for all hormones. The first peaks were timed around postnatal days 15 to 27 followed by a general nadir for all hormones around days 58 to 92. The second peaks occurred around days 107 to 125 for inhibin B, AMH, E1, E2, and SHBG and days 164 to 165 for LH and FSH. Conclusions We present age-related, continuous reference ranges of the most commonly used reproductive hormones and present novel data revealing a biphasic and prolonged female minipuberty. ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT02784184

AB - Context Minipuberty, a period of a transient activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis in both sexes, enables evaluation of gonadal function in infants suspected of hypogonadism. However, female minipuberty remains poorly elucidated. Objective We aimed to establish continuous reference ranges for the most commonly used reproductive hormones and to evaluate the dynamics of the HPG axis in females aged 0 to 1 year. Design The COPENHAGEN Minipuberty Study (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02784184), a longitudinal, prospective cohort study. Setting Healthy infants from Copenhagen. Patients or Other Participants A total of 98 healthy, term female infants followed with 6 examinations including venipuncture during the first year of life. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Serum concentrations of LH, FSH, inhibin B, anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), and SHBG were quantified using highly sensitive methods in 266 serum samples. Results Reference ranges were established for LH, FSH, inhibin B, AMH, E1, E2, and SHBG. Two peaks were observed in normalized mean curves for all hormones. The first peaks were timed around postnatal days 15 to 27 followed by a general nadir for all hormones around days 58 to 92. The second peaks occurred around days 107 to 125 for inhibin B, AMH, E1, E2, and SHBG and days 164 to 165 for LH and FSH. Conclusions We present age-related, continuous reference ranges of the most commonly used reproductive hormones and present novel data revealing a biphasic and prolonged female minipuberty. ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT02784184

KW - minipuberty

KW - female

KW - hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis

KW - HPG axis

KW - reproductive hormones

KW - reference ranges

KW - INHIBIN B

KW - AGE

KW - AXIS

KW - LH

KW - TESTOSTERONE

KW - ACTIVATION

KW - SURGE

KW - GIRLS

KW - BOYS

KW - FSH

U2 - 10.1210/clinem/dgac363

DO - 10.1210/clinem/dgac363

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35704034

VL - 107

SP - 2598

EP - 2605

JO - Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

JF - Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

SN - 0021-972X

IS - 9

ER -