Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

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MDPI, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 3(24), p. 2203, 2023

DOI: 10.3390/ijms24032203

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Prenatal Sex Hormone Exposure Is Associated with the Development of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal article published in 2023 by Mengwei Li, Noriyoshi Usui ORCID, Shoichi Shimada
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Sexual differentiation is a major developmental process. Sex differences resulting from sexual differentiation have attracted the attention of researchers. Unraveling what contributes to and underlies sex differences will provide valuable insights into the development of neurodevelopmental disorders that exhibit sex biases. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects an individual’s social interaction and communication abilities, and its male preponderance has been consistently reported in clinical studies. The etiology of male preponderance remains unclear, but progress has been made in studying prenatal sex hormone exposure. The present review examined studies that focused on the association between prenatal testosterone exposure and ASD development, as well as sex-specific behaviors in individuals with ASD. This review also included studies on maternal immune activation-induced developmental abnormalities that also showed striking sex differences in offspring and discussed its possible interacting roles in ASD so as to present a potential approach for future studies on sex biases in ASD.