Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Methodological concerns in puberty-related research
- Part 1 Sex differences in hormones and their effect at puberty
- 2 The biology of puberty: new developments in sex differences
- 3 Hormonal changes at puberty and the emergence of gender differences in internalizing disorders
- Part 2 Girls at puberty
- Part 3 Boys at puberty
- Part 4 Puberty and psychopathology
- Part 5 Pubertal timing: antecedents
- Part 6 Pubertal timing: consequences
- Part 7 Puberty and context
- Index
- References
2 - The biology of puberty: new developments in sex differences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Methodological concerns in puberty-related research
- Part 1 Sex differences in hormones and their effect at puberty
- 2 The biology of puberty: new developments in sex differences
- 3 Hormonal changes at puberty and the emergence of gender differences in internalizing disorders
- Part 2 Girls at puberty
- Part 3 Boys at puberty
- Part 4 Puberty and psychopathology
- Part 5 Pubertal timing: antecedents
- Part 6 Pubertal timing: consequences
- Part 7 Puberty and context
- Index
- References
Summary
At first glance puberty appears to be a discreet, isolated event that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. In reality, though, it is part of a continuum of events that were initiated at conception. The hypothalamic gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) pulse generator is initially active in fetal life and early infancy, but then suppressed during childhood; although at the onset of puberty it is reactivated. The etiology of this inhibition of the GnRH pulse generator is not known. It has been hypothesized that the onset of puberty is controlled by the brain “gonadostat,” which is a model used to describe the regulation of the hypothalamic GnRH pulse generator. Initially, in fetal life the gonadostat is insensitive to the negative feedback of gonadal sex steroids, testosterone in males and estrogen in females. But by the third trimester, the gonadostat has undergone some maturation and becomes sensitive to the high levels of estrogen and progesterone, and LH (luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) become suppressed. Through infancy and early childhood this sensitivity increases and the GnRH pulse generator is suppressed by the low levels of sex steroids. This feedback system is approximately ten times more sensitive to sex steroids than is the adult feedback mechanism (Styne and Grumbach, 1991). Then just prior to the onset of puberty, the sensitivity of the gonadostat to the negative feedback of gonadal sex steroids decreases, which releases the hypothalamic–pituitary axis from inhibition.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Gender Differences at Puberty , pp. 17 - 28Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
References
, , et al. (1993). Gonadotropin-releasing hormone pulse generator activity during pubertal transition in girls: pulsatile and diurnal patterns of circulating gonadotropins. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 76, 940Google ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (1996). Leptin is a metabolic signal to the reproductive system. Endocrinology, 137, 3144–3147CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (1991). Maturation of hypothalamic-pituitary gonadal function in normal human fetuses: circulating levels of gonadotropins, their common alpha subunit and free testosterone, and discrepancy between immunological and biological activities of circulating follicle-stimulating hormone. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 73, 525–532CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (1994). Sexual precocity: sex incidence and etiology. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 70, 116–118CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , et al. (1997). Serum leptin levels in normal children: relationship to age, gender, body mass index, pituitary-gonadal hormones, and pubertal stage. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 82, 2849–2855Google ScholarPubMed
Grumbach, M. M., and Styne, D. M. (1998). Puberty: ontogeny, neuroendocrinology, physiology, and disorders. In J. D. Wilson, D. W. Foster, H. M. Kronenberg and P. R. Larsen (ed.), Williams textbook of endocrinology, 9th edn (pp. 1509–1625). Philadelphia, PN: W. B. Saunders
, , et al. (1985). Somatomedin-C in normal puberty and in true precocious puberty before and after treatment with a potent luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 61, 152–159CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (1979). The association of obesity with infertility and related menstrual abnormalities in women. International Journal of Obesity, 3, 57–73Google ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (2001). Early puberty: a cautionary tale. Pediatrics, 107(3), 609–610CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (1997). Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: a study from the Pediatric Research in Office Settings Network. Pediatrics, 99(4), 505–512CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , and (2001). Secondary sexual characteristics in boys: estimates from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III, 1988–1994. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 155(9), 1022–1028CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, and (1999). Reexamination of the age limit for defining when puberty is precocious in girls in the United States: implications for evaluation and treatment. Drug and Therapeutics and Executive Committees of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society. Pediatrics, 104, 936–941CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (2001). Earlier onset of puberty in girls: relation to increased body mass index and race. Pediatrics, 108(2), 347–353CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1973). Gonadotropins during childhood and adolescence: a review. Pediatrics, 51, 260Google ScholarPubMed
, , and (2001). Age of puberty: data from the United States of America. APMIS, 109(2), 81–88CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(1973). Age at menarche. National Health Survey. US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Health Resources Centre. Washington, DC, Government Printing Office, 133, 74–1615Google Scholar
, , et al. (1979). Roles of estradiol and progesterone in eliciting the midcycle luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone surges. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 49, 507CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1969). Variations in pattern of pubertal changes in girls. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 44, 291–303CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, and (1970). Variations in the pattern of pubertal changes in boys. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 45, 13–23CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (1992). Serum levels of immunoreactive inhibin, FSH, and LH in human infants at preterm and term birth. Biology of Neonate, 61, 150–155CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, and (1984). Direct inhibitory effect of estradiol on pituitary luteinizing hormone responsiveness to luteinizing hormone releasing hormone is specific and of rapid onset. Biology of Reproduction, 30, 59CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
National Heart, Lung and Blood Growth and Health Study (1992). Obesity and cardiovascular disease risk factors in black and white girls. American Journal of Public Health, 82, 1613–1620CrossRef
, and (2001). Have the onset and tempo of puberty changed?Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 155(9), 988–989CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (1995). The timing of sexual maturation in a group of US white youths. Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, 8, 11–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , et al. (2000). Current age of onset of puberty. Pediatrics, 106, 622CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Styne, D. M., and Grumbach, M. M. (1991). Disorders of puberty in the male and female. In S. S. C. Yen and R. B. Jaffe (ed.), Reproductive Endocrinology: Physiology, Pathophysiology and Clinical Management (pp. 511–554). Philadelphia, PN: W. B. Saunders
, and (1973). Pituitary-gonadal relations in female children and adolescents. Pediatric Research, 7, 948CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , et al. (1976). A prospective study of sexual development in American girls: the statistics of menarche. Obstetrics and Gynecology Survey, 31, 325–337CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 25
- Cited by