Akari Kusamoto, Miyuki Harada, Ayaka Minemura, Asami Matsumoto, Kentaro Oka, Motomichi Takahashi, Nanoka Sakaguchi, Jerilee M K Azhary, Hiroshi Koike, Zixin Xu, Tsurugi Tanaka, Yoko Urata, Chisato Kunitomi, Nozomi Takahashi, Osamu Wada-Hiraike, Yasushi Hirota, Yutaka Osuga
The gut microbiome is implicated in the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and prenatal androgen exposure is involved in the development of PCOS in later life. Our previous study of a mouse model of PCOS induced by prenatal dihydrotestosterone (DHT) exposure showed that the reproductive phenotype of PCOS appears from puberty, followed by the appearance of the metabolic phenotype after young adulthood, while changes in the gut microbiota was already apparent before puberty. To determine whether the prenatal or postnatal nurturing environment primarily contributes to these changes that characterize prenatally androgenized (PNA) offspring, we used a cross-fostering model to evaluate the effects of changes in the postnatal early-life environment of PNA offspring on the development of PCOS-like phenotypes and alterations in the gut microbiota in later life...
2024: Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology