ESPE Abstracts

Background: Idiopathic central precocious puberty (ICPP) results from the premature reactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis leading to development of secondary sexual characteristics prior to 8 years in girls or 9 years in boys. Mutations in the maternally imprinted MKNR3 gene are the most common identified genetic cause of ICPP to date. Expression of MKRN3 in the arcuate nucleus is presumed to be inhibitory to GnRH secretion, but the exact mechanism remains un...

Background: Significant changes in metabolism and water equilibrium are registered during pregnancy. However, very limited previous investigations have been carried out on variations of exposure levels and metabolism of non-persistent environmental chemicals during pregnancy.Objective and hypotheses: The objective of this longitudinal study is to describe variation in exposure of pregnant women to environmental chemicals. We hypothesise that variation in...

Objectives: We designed a longitudinal study to investigate the association between central pubertal activation with age at the appearance of clinical signs of puberty. We, therefore, assessed nocturnal gonadotropin secretion which can be detected in the form of total luteinizing hormone (LH) immunoreactivity in the daytime- and sleeptime-excreted urine.Methods: Thirty healthy volunteers (17 boys and 13 girls, aged 3.4&n...

Objectives: We aim ed to validate first-morning-voided (FMV) total urinary luteinizing hormone immunoreactivity (U-LH-ir) as a marker for the onset of biochemical puberty and as a noninvasive method to predict the imminent onset of clinical puberty.Methods: We analyzed 651 children (305 boys aged 2.8–17.8 years and 346 girls aged 2.6–18.0 years, both spanning Tanner stages 1-5) across two distinct cohorts. In...

Context: Transient thelarche (TT) corresponds to the appearance, regression and subsequent reappearance of the breast bud in girls. Only a single study about its frequency and progression is available (Lindhardt Johansen JCEM 2017).Objective and Hypotheses: To determine whether girls with TT girls (group 1) compared to girls without TT (group 2) show differences in i) timing/sequence of pubertal events ii) pattern of rep...

Introduction: The clinical hallmark of male puberty is testicular enlargement ≥4 ml. While this initial sign largely depends on central reactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis along with peripheral follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) action, the attainment of voice-break, activation of sweat- and sebaceous- glands, acne as well as axillary hair development require testosterone action.Objective: To investigate the tempo...

Background: Early growth trajectories are associated with childhood BMI and fat distribution as well as adulthood type 2 diabetes. Mechanisms by which early growth determines later adiposity remain unclear, but the effect may be mediated through adipocytokines.Objective and hypotheses: We describe the association between infant growth, adolescent fat distribution and serum adipocytokines. We hypothesize that poor or rapid early growth is associated with ...

Background: Alterations in the timing or expression level of players involved in sex determination and differentiation can cause disorders of sex development, gonadal dysgenesis and germ cell neoplasms later in life. The mitosis–meiosis switch is one of the first manifestations of female sex differentiation and we hypothesise that a conflict between meiosis-inhibiting (male pathway) and meiosis-inducing signals (female pathway) is one of the possible mechanisms for disrup...

Background: Since the late 1960’s, pubertal breast staging has been based on Tanner’s classification. Appearance of glandular breast tissue may be difficult to distinguish by palpation from the surrounding subcutaneous fat tissue, especially in obese girls. To our knowledge, validation of the clinical assessment of pubertal stages by MRI quantification of glandular breast tissue has never been performed.Objective and hypotheses: i) To report no...

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to genes encoding the FSHβ subunit and FSH receptor (FSHB/FSHR) affect FSH production (FSHB c.-211G>T) and receptor sensitivity/expression in vitro (FSHR c.2039A>G & FSHR c.-29G>A). FSHR c.2039A>G, but not FSHR c.-29G>A, is associated with increased FSH levels in adult women, while there are conflicting results on F...