A preliminary study on the relationship between environmental endocrine disruptors and precocious puberty in girls

Abstract

Objectives To explore the associations of environmental endocrine disruptors on precocious puberty in girls. Methods This was a case-control study in which 30 girls with precocious puberty and 46 age- and race-matched prepubertal females were enrolled. The concentrations of 10 environment endocrine disruptors (bisphenol A, bisphenol B, butylparaben, propylparaben, ethvlparaben, methylparaben, mono-butyl phthalate, mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, monoethyl phthalate, and monomethyl phthalate) in urine and 10 steroid hormones (dihydrotestosterone, corticosterone, hydrocortisone, 11-deoxycortisol, 17α-hydroxy progesterone, 4-androstene-3,17-dione, estrone, deoxycorticosterone, pregnenolone, and dehydroepiandrosterone) in serum were detected with the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Results According to the Mann–Whitney U test, urinary levels of bisphenol A, monobutyl phthalate, and monomethyl phthalate were significantly higher in the precocious group than in the prepubertal group, and blood levels of hydrocortisone, 11-deoxycortisol, corticosterone, deoxycorticosterone, and pregnenolone were significantly lower in the precocious group than in the prepubertal group (p<0.05, VIP>1). Conclusions Our findings confirm the association between phthalate exposure and the incidence of precocious puberty in girls. Control and reduction of children exposure to phthalate esters should be considered as a health priority.

Oestrogenic Activity in Girls with Signs of Precocious Puberty as Exposure Biomarker to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: A Pilot Study

“…Moreover, regarding P, the average E2 concentration of girls with central PP was 18.50 ± 21.97 pg/mL, while that of girls with incomplete PP was 5.21 ± 5.50 pg/mL. This result was expected since signs of PP are usually the clinical feature of a premature activation of the HPG axis, which leads to E2 release in females resulting in a high concentration of this hormone in their blood [1,[56][57][58], but could also be due to other external factors such as EDC exposure [8,59]. The comparison between E2 concentrations found in the present study with the physiological E2 concentrations during the pre-pubertal period showed that the average E2 concentrations in the serum of girls in the present study were within the range of the physiological values (<27 pg/mL, data provided by the Regina Margherita Children hospital, Table S1 in Supplementary Materials 2).…”

Childhood obesity and central precocious puberty

“…Endocrine disruptors are ubiquitous in the environment, and might also be risks for CPP. In a casecontrol study, Zhou et al compared urinal metabolites and serum hormones of 30 precocious puberty girls with 46 ageand race-matched prepubertal females, and confirmed the association of CPP with phthalate esters exposure (68). Ubiquitously present bisphenol A is another threat to female CPP, possibly through Kiss1 activation in ARC (69, 70).…”

Multi-omic analysis of precocious puberty girls: pathway changes and metabolite validation

“…Those associations were stronger in pubertal children ( 31 ). In our previous study, we observed steroid hormone changes in the blood samples of PP girls, including those of hydrocortisone, 11-deoxycortisol, corticosterone, deoxycorticosterone, and pregnenolone, and also found that EDC exposure may affect the metabolism of steroid hormones in the body ( 32 ). In a similar study, steroid hormone biosynthesis was also identified as an enriched pathway for DEMs of CPP girls ( 33 ).…”