Table 1.

Summary of major reproductive dysfunction or anomalies associated with fetal deficiency or excess of androgen or estrogen

Major reproductive dysfunction/anomaly	Fetal deficiency of:		Fetal excess of:
	Androgenb	Estrogena	Androgen	Estrogen
Ovarian
Reduced ovulatory frequency	+ [29]	+ [45]	+ [12, 50–56]	+ [15, 76, 80, 81]
Reduced follicle number	?	+ [33, 44]	+ [69]	+ [14, 77]
Reduced ovarian response to FSH	+ [29]	+ [42, 43]	+ [69]	?
Excessive, endogeneous hypergonadotropic-inducing hemorrhagic follicles	-	+ [38, 45]	-	-
Ovarian hyperandrogenism	-	+ [38]	+ [49, 53]	+ [77, 79]
Polycystic ovaries	?	-	+ [13, 52, 57]	?
Impaired oocyte developmental competence	?	?	+ [28, 69, 70]	?
Partial masculinization of the ovary	-	+ [47, 48]	-	-
Premature ovarian senescence	?	?	+ [50–52]	?
Neuroendocrine
Increased LH levels	?	+ [24, 38, 45]	+ [12, 53, 56, 60]	?
Increased FSH levels	?	+ [24, 45]	-	?
De-sensitized estradiol/progesterone negative feedback on LH	?	?	+ [49, 53–56, 58–60]	?
Increased gonadotrope LH sensitivity to GnRH	?	?	+ [49]	?

a : as discussed in the text, many instances of fetal androgen and estrogen deficiencies persist into adult life and partially confound assessments of the precise causes of the reproductive abnormalities found.

b : abnormalities summarized in this table reflect studies in which there were no concomitant deficiencies in estrogen