Researchers from the University of Cambridge (Great Britain) and the State Serum Institute in Denmark continued research started in 2015 on the hormones present in amniotic fluid and their influence on the fetus. This time, they analyzed 275 amniotic fluid samples from a Danish biobank to study the presence of estrogen. They found that the 98 children who subsequently developed a autism spectrum disorder had been exposed to higher estrogen levels in utero.
Hormones that interact with genetic factors
“This new finding supports the idea that an increase in prenatal sex steroid hormones is one potential cause of the disease. Genetics is another, and these hormones likely interact with genetic factors to affect fetal brain development. “said Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, lead author of the study published in the journal Molecular psychiatry.
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