Prenatal exposure to dexamethasone disturbs sex-determining gene expression and fetal testosterone production in male embryos

Abstract

Prenatal stress is known to cause intrauterine fetal growth retardation, and is also associated with various long-term effects in the form of metabolic and neurodevelopmental diseases in adults. Many of the diseases associated with prenatal stress exhibit a sex bias. Perturbations and vulnerability to prenatal stress are often more profound in males, but the mechanisms responsible for this relationship are not clear. We have previously shown that administration of the synthetic glucocorticoid, dexamethasone (Dex), at embryonic days 7.5, 8.5, and 9.5, induces embryonic growth restriction in a sex-dependent manner in a mouse model. Here we examined the effect of prenatal exposure to Dex on gonadal development. During male gonadal development, sex-determining genes, such as Sry, Sox9, and other downstream genes, were found to be dysregulated in response to prenatal Dex, whereas the genes for the ovarian pathway were affected to a lesser degree in females. In addition, fetal testosterone concentrations were decreased by prenatal exposure to Dex, in parallel with reduced numbers of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD)-positive cells in the embryonic testis. These results show that prenatal exposure to Dex differentially influences male versus female on the gene expression and hormone production during sex determination. We believe these studies provide valuable insights into possible mechanisms responsible for sex-specific responses to prenatal stress.