Maternal androgen levels during pregnancy are associated with early-life growth in Geoffroy's marmosets, Callithrix geoffroyi

Abstract

Fetal development is a critical period of physical development, and factors in the intrauterine environment can cause lasting effects on the growth and development of offspring. There is little research evaluating organizational effects of early androgen exposure of endogenous maternal origins on the prenatal and postnatal growth of offspring. We evaluated the association between maternal androgen levels during gestation and pre- and postnatal growth of offspring. Maternal androgen levels in marmoset females were measured using enzyme immunoassays of urine samples acquired during 18 pregnancies. Somatic measurements of the resulting 25 viable offspring were taken on postnatal days (PND) 2, 30, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300. Maternal androgen levels during the first trimester were negatively associated with weight, body length, and several girth measurements (i.e., torso, head, chest, and arm circumference) of offspring on PND 2. First trimester maternal androgen was also negatively associated with physical growth during early and late infancy but seemed to be positively associated with a rebound in juvenile growth. Exposure to maternal androgen during early gestation led to both a reduction in birth weight and postnatal catch-up for both males and females, equally. Fetal growth retardation and the reprogramming of metabolic tissues by exposure to prenatal androgen could be mediating factors of suppressed postnatal growth.

Fig. 1

Mean ± SE levels of urinary androgen excretion by five female marmosets across reproductive phases of 18 total pregnancies. NonPreg = females that are not pregnant; Tri-1, Tri-2 and Tri-3 = first, second, and third trimester of pregnancy, respectively. Bars that have different letters are significantly different from each other (P < 0.05).

Fig. 2

Levels of androgen excretion across a total of 18 gestations from five females in ten-day blocks. (a) Means for all pregnancies for all females indicated by large solid dot and line, and means for multiple pregnancies (two to five) for each female are also shown. (b) Levels of androgen excretion for five pregnancies from a single female (Pop).

Fig. 3

Relationships between levels first trimester maternal androgen excretions and total postnatal growth of female and male marmosets including (a) Early infant weight gain, (b) Early infant thigh growth, (c) Early infant arm circumference growth, (d) late infant thigh growth, (e) late infant chest growth, and (f) juvenile thigh growth. Life stages included Early infants (PND 0-60), Late infants (PND 60-180), and Juveniles (PND 180-300). Sample sizes are 25 (Early infants), 24 (Late infants), and 23 (Juveniles), P’s < 0.05.