Prenatal sex steroid hormones and autism

Aims:

To test the relationship between prenatal sex steroid hormone levels (such as testosterone and oestrogen) and later behaviour, cognition, neural structure and function and clinical diagnosis.

Background:

It is well established that prenatal sex steroid hormones change postnatal behaviour, cognition, and brain structure and function.

Method:

We follow the babies of women who underwent amniocentesis during pregnancy, to look across their child’s development on a range of outcomes.

Results:

These will appear on our website.

Importance:

This longitudinal study allows us to study the effects of these key hormones that influence sex differences in the brain and behaviour postnatally.

Relevance:

This work is most relevant to neuroendocrinologists and neuroscientists, but may also have relevance for understanding the causes of autism and of typical sex differences in brain and mind.

Selected Publications

Fetal oestrogens and autism, Molecular Psychiatry (2019), S Baron-Cohen, A Tsompanidis, B Auyeung, B Nřrgaard-Pedersen, D M Hougaard, M Abdallah, A Cohen, A Pohl
Polycystic ovary syndrome and autism: A test of the prenatal sex steroid theory, Translational Psychiatry 10.1038/s41398-018-0186-7 (2018), Cherskov, A, Pohl, A, Allison, C, Zhang, H, Payne, A, R, Baron-Cohen, S
Sex-specific impact of prenatal androgens on social brain default mode subsystems, Molecular Psychiatry 10.1038/s41380-018-0198-y (2018), M Lombardo, B Auyeung, T Pramparo, A Quartier, J Courraud, R J Holt, J Waldman, A N V Ruigrok, N Mooney, R A I Bethlehem, M Lai, P Kundu, E T Bullmore, J Mandel, A Piton, S Baron-Cohen
Elevated fetal steroidogenic activity in autism, Molecular Psychiatry 20:369-376 (2015), S Baron-Cohen, B Auyeung, B Nřrgaard-Pedersen, D Hougaard, M Abdallah, L Melgaard, A Cohen, B Chakrabarti, L Ruta, and M Lombardo
Prenatal and postnatal hormone effects on the human brain and cognition, 465:557-571 (2013), B. Auyeung M. V. Lombardo S. Baron-Cohen
Prenatal versus postnatal sex steroid hormone effects on autistic traits in children at 18 to 24 months of age, Molecular Autism 03:17 (2012), B Auyeung, J Ahluwalia, L Thomson, K Taylor, G Hackett, K J O’Donnell S Baron-Cohen

Staff:

Funders:

Back to current projects