Gut microbiota develop towards an adult profile in a sex-specific manner during puberty.

Accumulating evidence indicates that gut microbiota may regulate sex-hormone levels in the host, with effects on reproductive health. Very little is known about the development of intestinal microbiota during puberty in humans. To assess the connection between pubertal timing and fecal microbiota, and to assess how fecal microbiota develop during puberty in comparison with adult microbiota, we utilized a Finnish allergy-prevention-trial cohort (Flora).

Anti-Müllerian hormone and letrozole levels in boys with constitutional delay of growth and puberty treated with letrozole or testosterone.

Study Question: Does treatment of constitutional delay of growth and puberty (CDGP) in boys with aromatase inhibitor letrozole (Lz) or conventional low-dose testosterone (T) have differing effects on developing seminiferous epithelium?

Summary Answer: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) declined similarly in both treatment groups, and the two Sertoli cell-derived markers (AMH and inhibin B (iB)) exhibited differing responses to changes in gonadotrophin milieu.

What Is Known Already: Boys with CDGP may benefit from puberty-inducing medication. Peroral Lz activates gonadotrophin secretion, whereas intramuscular low-dose T may transiently suppress gonadotrophins and iB.

Treatment of gonadotropin deficiency during the first year of life: long-term observation and outcome in five boys.

Study Question: What is the peripubertal outcome of recombinant human FSH (r-hFSH) treatment during minipuberty in boys with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH)?

Summary Answer: Sertoli-cell response to r-hFSH, given during the minipuberty of infancy, appears insufficient to maintain Sertoli cell function throughout childhood, as evaluated by inhibin B measurements.

What Is Known Already: Severe CHH in boys can be diagnosed during the minipuberty of infancy. Combined gonadotropin treatment at that age is suggested to improve testicular endocrine function and future fertility, yet long-term evidence is lacking.

Recombinant Human FSH Treatment Outcomes in Five Boys With Severe Congenital Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism.

Context: Recombinant human FSH (r-hFSH), given to prepubertal boys with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH), may induce Sertoli cell proliferation and thereby increase sperm-producing capacity later in life.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of r-hFSH, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), and testosterone (T) in such patients.

Design And Setting: Retrospective review in three tertiary centers in Finland between 2006 and 2016.

Disorders of sex development: timing of diagnosis and management in a single large tertiary center.

Background: We describe the phenotypic spectrum and timing of diagnosis and management in a large series of patients with disorders of sexual development (DSD) treated in a single pediatric tertiary center.

Methods: DSD patients who had visited our tertiary center during the survey period (between 2004 and 2014) were identified based on an ICD-10 inquiry, and their phenotypic and molecular genetic findings were recorded from patient charts.

Results: Among the 550 DSD patients, 53.