2020
DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2020.00101
|View full text |Cite
|
Sign up to set email alerts
|

DHEAS and Human Development: An Evolutionary Perspective

Benjamin Campbell

Abstract: Adrenarche, the post-natal rise of DHEA and DHEAS, is unique to humans and the African Apes. Recent findings have linked DHEA in humans to the development of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDPFC) between the ages of 4-8 years and the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) from 7 to 12 years of age. Given the association of the LDLPFC with the 5-to-8 transition and the rTPJ with mentalizing during middle childhood DHEA may have played an important role in the evolution of the human brain. I argue that … Show more

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...
3
2

Citation Types

0
16
0

Year Published

2020
2020
2024
2024

Publication Types

Select...
7

Relationship

0
7

Authors

Journals

citations
Cited by 23 publications
(16 citation statements)
references
References 168 publications
(200 reference statements)
0
16
0
Order By: Relevance
“…To better understand the functions and age-related patterns of DHEAS secretion and excretion in primate evolution, comparative research involving platyrrhines is needed. These studies may help us to develop platyrrhine models for studying the effects of DHEAS on cognition and neonatal development, age-related disorders, and on the evolution of the adrenal gland among primate species (Campbell, 2020;Takeshita et al, 2018b). Furthermore, the GC/DHEAS index can be used as part of a multifaceted and more accurate assessment of stress (Takeshita et al, 2019;Whitham et al, 2020) and can be applied to monitor primate welfare and reproduction.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…To better understand the functions and age-related patterns of DHEAS secretion and excretion in primate evolution, comparative research involving platyrrhines is needed. These studies may help us to develop platyrrhine models for studying the effects of DHEAS on cognition and neonatal development, age-related disorders, and on the evolution of the adrenal gland among primate species (Campbell, 2020;Takeshita et al, 2018b). Furthermore, the GC/DHEAS index can be used as part of a multifaceted and more accurate assessment of stress (Takeshita et al, 2019;Whitham et al, 2020) and can be applied to monitor primate welfare and reproduction.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Campbell (2020) suggests that, given neurological functions of DHEA‐S, rising adrenarcheal levels are crucial for cortical maturation and synaptic modification which translate phenotypically into increased competencies in middle childhood. He proposes that adrenarche might be a developmental pathway through which increased meat consumption contributed to brain expansion during Homo evolution.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The intention of this article is to discuss the possible physiological mechanisms that initiate and support the hormonal changes that characterize adrenarche in humans and some non-human primates. As such, we have not attempted a systematic review of this topic; such a review has been done expertly in recent times [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. We will also suggest what could be done if a tractable, small animal model of the adrenarche could be found.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Hence, why the mechanistic understanding of adrenarche—in particular, the origin of the factors that drive the dynamic changes within a strictly defined zone of the adrenal cortex, the ZR—is still poorly defined and essentially unknown. Similarly, there has been much discussion around the impact on the brain of adrenarche and the associated increase of DHEA during human adolescence and adult life [ 1 ]. Notwithstanding the important evolutionary perspective pointed out by Campbell [ 1 ], the mechanistic aspects of adrenarche remain highly speculative, not least because of the practical and ethical limitations of conducting experiments that dissect the essential mechanisms of humans and primates.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
See 1 more Smart Citation