Register for Fetal sex hormone exposure may predispose humans to schizophrenia
EndocrinologyMarch 4, 2004
2004 MAR 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fetal sex hormone exposure may predispose humans to schizophrenia.
"The differentiation of the human brain is triggered by sexual steroid hormones in the fetus. The development of both the urogenital system and the appendicular skeleton are under common control by the HOX genes. Generally men have longer ring fingers than index fingers, whereas in women these fingers are close to equal," scientists in the United States report.
"The inborn digit pattern may reflect fetal estrogen/androgen influences on hemispheric brain specialization. Reduced hemispheric asymmetry has been found in schizophrenia. Gender differences in schizophrenia also suggest a possible endocrine component in the complex pathogenesis of the illness. To test this hypothesis the authors have measured the relative digit lengths of patients with schizophrenia and healthy comparison subjects," said M. Arato and colleagues, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Psychiatry Service.
"The distance of the tip of the index and ring finger was measured from the tip of the third digit in 80 male and 80 female, right-handed patients with DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia and in 80 right-handed healthy comparison men and women. Schizophrenic men and women showed a more ''feminine'' phenotype of the index and ring fingers in both hands than same-sex controls."
"This finding implies that low fetal androgen/estrogen ratio may have a predisposing role in the development of schizophrenia and points toward involvement of endocrine factors in the disturbed hemispheric lateralization attributed to the illness," researchers concluded.
Arato and colleagues published their study in Progress in Neuro - Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry (Digit length pattern in schizophrenia suggests disturbed prenatal hemispheric lateralization. Prog Neuro-psych Biol Psych, 2004;28(1):191-194).
For more information, contact E. Frecska, Vet. Administration Med Center, Psychiatry Service, 116A, 1601 SW Archer Rd., Gainesville, FL 32608, USA.
Publisher contact information for the journal Progress in Neuro - Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry is: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd., the Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK.
The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of Endocrinology, Mental Health, Neurology, Obstetrics and Women's Health. This article was prepared by Women's Health Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2004, Women's Health Weekly via NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net.
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