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Postnatal Testicular Activity in Healthy Boys and Boys With Cryptorchidism

Cryptorchidism, or undescended testis, is a well-known risk factor for testicular cancer and impaired semen quality in adulthood, conditions which have their origins in early fetal and postnatal life. In human pregnancy, the interplay of testicular and placental hormones as well as local regulatory...

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Autores principales: Kuiri-Hänninen, Tanja, Koskenniemi, Jaakko, Dunkel, Leo, Toppari, Jorma, Sankilampi, Ulla
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6663997/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31396156
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2019.00489
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author Kuiri-Hänninen, Tanja
Koskenniemi, Jaakko
Dunkel, Leo
Toppari, Jorma
Sankilampi, Ulla
author_facet Kuiri-Hänninen, Tanja
Koskenniemi, Jaakko
Dunkel, Leo
Toppari, Jorma
Sankilampi, Ulla
author_sort Kuiri-Hänninen, Tanja
collection PubMed
description Cryptorchidism, or undescended testis, is a well-known risk factor for testicular cancer and impaired semen quality in adulthood, conditions which have their origins in early fetal and postnatal life. In human pregnancy, the interplay of testicular and placental hormones as well as local regulatory factors and control by the hypothalamic-pituitary (HP) axis, lead to testicular descent by term. The normal masculine development may be disrupted by environmental factors or genetic defects and result in undescended testes. Minipuberty refers to the postnatal re-activation of the HP-testicular (T) axis after birth. During the first weeks of life, gonadotropin levels increase, followed by activation and proliferation of testicular Leydig, Sertoli and germ cells. Consequent rise in testosterone levels results in penile growth during the first months of life. Testicular size increases and testicular descent continues until three to five months of age. Insufficient HPT axis activation (e.g., hypogonadotropic hypogonadism) is often associated with undescended testis and therefore minipuberty is considered an important phase in the normal male reproductive development. Minipuberty provides a unique window of opportunity for the early evaluation of HPT axis function during early infancy. For cryptorchid boys, hormonal evaluation during minipuberty may give a hint of the underlying etiology and aid in the evaluation of the later risk of HPT axis dysfunction and impaired fertility. The aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge of the role of minipuberty in testicular development and descent.
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spelling pubmed-66639972019-08-08 Postnatal Testicular Activity in Healthy Boys and Boys With Cryptorchidism Kuiri-Hänninen, Tanja Koskenniemi, Jaakko Dunkel, Leo Toppari, Jorma Sankilampi, Ulla Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) Endocrinology Cryptorchidism, or undescended testis, is a well-known risk factor for testicular cancer and impaired semen quality in adulthood, conditions which have their origins in early fetal and postnatal life. In human pregnancy, the interplay of testicular and placental hormones as well as local regulatory factors and control by the hypothalamic-pituitary (HP) axis, lead to testicular descent by term. The normal masculine development may be disrupted by environmental factors or genetic defects and result in undescended testes. Minipuberty refers to the postnatal re-activation of the HP-testicular (T) axis after birth. During the first weeks of life, gonadotropin levels increase, followed by activation and proliferation of testicular Leydig, Sertoli and germ cells. Consequent rise in testosterone levels results in penile growth during the first months of life. Testicular size increases and testicular descent continues until three to five months of age. Insufficient HPT axis activation (e.g., hypogonadotropic hypogonadism) is often associated with undescended testis and therefore minipuberty is considered an important phase in the normal male reproductive development. Minipuberty provides a unique window of opportunity for the early evaluation of HPT axis function during early infancy. For cryptorchid boys, hormonal evaluation during minipuberty may give a hint of the underlying etiology and aid in the evaluation of the later risk of HPT axis dysfunction and impaired fertility. The aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge of the role of minipuberty in testicular development and descent. Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-07-23 /pmc/articles/PMC6663997/ /pubmed/31396156 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2019.00489 Text en Copyright © 2019 Kuiri-Hänninen, Koskenniemi, Dunkel, Toppari and Sankilampi. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Endocrinology
Kuiri-Hänninen, Tanja
Koskenniemi, Jaakko
Dunkel, Leo
Toppari, Jorma
Sankilampi, Ulla
Postnatal Testicular Activity in Healthy Boys and Boys With Cryptorchidism
title Postnatal Testicular Activity in Healthy Boys and Boys With Cryptorchidism
title_full Postnatal Testicular Activity in Healthy Boys and Boys With Cryptorchidism
title_fullStr Postnatal Testicular Activity in Healthy Boys and Boys With Cryptorchidism
title_full_unstemmed Postnatal Testicular Activity in Healthy Boys and Boys With Cryptorchidism
title_short Postnatal Testicular Activity in Healthy Boys and Boys With Cryptorchidism
title_sort postnatal testicular activity in healthy boys and boys with cryptorchidism
topic Endocrinology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6663997/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31396156
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2019.00489
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