Table 1.

Top panel: Comparison of attributes of prenatal T-treated sheep (Finish-Landrace x Dorset Horn, Poll Dorset, Suffolk, and Scottish-Greyface) with that of women with PCOS. Bottom panel: Comparison of attributes of the above groups with the diagnostic criteria for PCOS. Numbers in superscript refer to citations from which information was derived.

			Sheep Breed (gestational days of treatment)
		PCOS women	Finish-Dorset (see text for days)	New Zealand Romney (D20, 27, 40)	Poll Dorset (D30-90)	Suffolk (D30-90)	Suffolk (D60-90)	Scottish Greyface (D60-90)
Reproduction	Functional hyperandrogenism	yes1,2	-	-	-	yes24	-	-
	LH excess	yes3	-	no19	-	yes25	yes36	-
	Oligo- anovulation	yes1,2,4	yes17	-	yes21,22	yes26	no29, 36	-
	Infertility	yes1, 2, 5	-	-	-	-	yes37	-
	PCO morphology	yes6	-	-	-	yes27	nounpublished	-
	Increased ovary weight/vol	yes6	-	-	-	yes28	nounpublished	-
	Follicular persistence	?	-	-	-	yes26	-	-
	Enhanced follicular recruitment	yes7	-	-	yes23	yes28	-	-
	Disrupted E2 positive feedback	?	yes18	-	yes21, 22	yes29	yes29	-
	Reduced E2 negative feedback	?	-	-	-	yes30	-	-
	Reduced P4 negative feedback	yes8	-	-	-	yes31	-	-
	Increased GnRH sensitivity	yes9	-	no20	-	yes25	-	-
Metabolism	Reduced insulin sensitivity	yes10, 11	-	-	-	yes32	yes32	-
	Increased total free fatty acids	yes12	-	-	-	yes33	-	-
	Hypertension	at risk13, 14	-	-	-	yes34	-	-
	Altered visceral adiposity	yes15, 16	-	-	-	yes35	-	-
PCOS criteria	NIH criteria (chronic anovulation and biochemical/clinical signs of hyperandrogenism)	-	incomplete information	incomplete information	incomplete information	yes	incomplete information	adult phenotype not studied
	Rotterdam criteria (2 of 3; oligo- or anovulation, clinical and/or biochemical signs of hyperandrogenism, polycystic ovaries)	-	incomplete information	incomplete information	yes	yes	incomplete information	adult phenotype not studied
	AE-PCOSS (clinical/biochemical hyperandrogenism and oligomenorrhea or polycystic ovaries)	-	incomplete information	incomplete information	incomplete information	yes	incomplete information	adult phenotype not studied

¹Azziz et al., 2006;

²Rosenfield., 1997;

³Rebar et al., 1976;

⁴Homburg, 1996;

⁵Franks, 1995;

⁶Franks et al., 2003;

⁷Webber et al., 2003;

⁸Blank et al., 2006;

⁹McCartney et al., 2002;

¹⁰Dunaif et al., 1997;

¹¹Ehrmann, 2007;

¹²Holte et al., 1994;

¹³Hoffman and Ehrmann, 2008;

¹⁴Wild et al., 2010;

¹⁵Barber et al., 2008;

¹⁶Martínez-Bermejo et al., 2007;

¹⁷Short, 1974;

¹⁸Clarke et., 1976b;

¹⁹Wilson and Tarttelin, 1978a;

²⁰Wilson and Tarttelin, 1978b;

²¹Birch et al., 2003;

²²Unsworth et al., 2005;

²³Forsdike et al., 2007;

²⁴Ortega et al., 2009;

²⁵Manikkam et al., 2008;

²⁶Manikkam et al., 2006;

²⁷West et al., 2001;

²⁸Smith et al., 2009;

²⁹Sharma et al., 2002;

³⁰Sarma et al., 2005,

³¹Veiga-Lopez et al., 2008;

³²Padmanabhan et al., 2010;

³³Veiga-Lopez et al., 2011a;

³⁴King et al., 2007;

³⁵Padmanabhan et al., 2011; and

³⁶Savabiesfahani et al., 2005;

³⁷Steckler et al., 2007.

Abbreviations: AE-PCOSS: androgen excess-polycystic ovary syndrome society, D: gestational day, E₂: oestradiol, GnRH: gonadotropin releasing hormone, LH: luteinizing hormone, NIH: National Institutes of Health, and P₄: progesterone.