Fetal Drug Exposure and Sexual Differentiation of Males

Abstract

reviews the evidence that in utero exposure to certain nonsteroidal drugs is associated with alterations in (1) fetal T [testosterone] titers, (2) morphological and/or physiological parameters that are normally masculinized by exposure to T during prenatal development, and (3) sexually dimorphic copulatory patterns as well as other behaviors that show variation related to gender as we focus on drugs of abuse, some T-attenuating drugs that are used primarily for therapeutic purposes, for example, barbiturates and cimetidine, are also covered / effects of in utero exposure to nonsteroidal drugs on the sexual differentiation of males have been done with experimental animals and, more specifically, with laboratory rodents / as each drug is discussed, the evidence that testicular steroidogenesis is altered by exposure during adulthood is covered first / some comment is made on the prevalence of use of the substance by pregnant women / then the experimental studies on fetal endocrine effects as well as evidence for residual effects of fetal drug exposure are examined ethanol / nicotine / marijuana / opiates / barbiturates and phenytoin (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)