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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

A Hyperandrogenic Mouse Model to Study Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Published on: October 2, 2018
Female precocious puberty, obesity and polycystic-like ovaries
C Battaglia1, P De Iaco, L Iughetti
1III Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. battaglia@med.unibo.it
Objective:
To evaluate the characteristics of obese girls with gonadotropin releasing hormone-dependent precocious puberty with and without polycystic-like ovaries.
Methods:
Forty-seven overweight (> 75(th) centile of the Italian reference data) girls with a diagnosis of isosexual precocious puberty underwent auxological analysis, hormonal assay and utero-ovarian sonographic and Doppler evaluation. On the basis of sonography the patients were subdivided into two groups, girls presenting normal ovaries (Group I; n = 31) and those with polycystic-like ovaries (Group II; n = 16).
Results:
The mean body weight was significantly higher (P = 0.003) in Group II than it was in Group I. In addition, the patients with polycystic-like ovaries fell within our definition of superobese (> or = 97(th) centile of the Italian reference data) in 44% of cases. The uterine and ovarian volumes were significantly greater in Group II compared with Group I patients. The Doppler evaluation showed intraparenchymal ovarian vascularization and low downstream impedance to flow in all patients in Group II.
Conclusions:
Girls with precocious puberty and polycystic ovaries, compared with those without polycystic ovaries, have a higher incidence of body weight exceeding the 85(th) centile of the Italian reference data (obesity).
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