Effects of malnutrition, maternal stress, or ACTH injections during pregnancy on sexual behavior of male offspring

Developmental exposure to SSRIs, in addition to maternal stress, has long-term sex-dependent effects on hippocampal plasticity

“…In line with our observation of a lower body weight in animals exposed to prenatal stress, previous work has shown reductions in body weight of adult offspring after prenatal restraint stress (Herrenkohl 1979;Rhees and Fleming 1981). However, others have also reported no alterations in adult body weight of offspring after prenatal stress exposure (Gerardin et al 2005;Gong et al 2012;Herrenkohl and Whitney 1976;Van den Hove et al 2005).…”

In Utero Prednisone Exposure Affects Genital Development

“…We can speculate that high dose steroids suppress the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis leading to a decrease in prenatal androgens as claimed by many authors. 8,9,17 However, there is no definite agreement on this point since other authors either did not find comparable changes in sexual dimorphysm by administering steroids or demonstrated a primary role for ␤-endorphin in mediating the long-term consequences of prenatal stress. Moreover, even the hypothesized inhibitory effects of glucocorticoids on testosterone production have been questioned when considering the immature testis.…”

Prenatal Stress Diminishes the Cytokine Response of Leukocytes to Endotoxin Stimulation in Juvenile Rhesus Monkeys

“…These diverse effects implicate other processes beyond just cortisol, but the HPA axis does appear to offer one hormonal pathway that could mediate many of these changes. Administration of corticosteroids to the gravid female induces postnatal effects on the infant that are very similar to those seen after psychological disturbance (6,44). Thus, the placental transfer of hormones may be a critical process that shapes the developmental trajectory of the baby before and after birth (45).…”