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Salivary Testosterone during the Minipuberty of Infancy


Maria Contreras, Manish Raisingani, Donald Walt Chandler

    Hormone Research in Paediatrics
    |January 11, 2017
    PubMed

    Insights

    Infant boys experience minipuberty with high total testosterone but low free testosterone, explaining the lack of virilization. Saliva tests offer a noninvasive way to measure this free testosterone.

    Area of Science:

    • Pediatric Endocrinology
    • Reproductive Biology
    • Biochemistry

    Background:

    • The hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis activates transiently in infant boys (minipuberty), raising serum testosterone (T) to pubertal levels.
    • Despite elevated circulating T, infant boys do not exhibit signs of virilization.
    • A hypothesis suggests low salivary free T may explain the absence of virilization during minipuberty.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the levels of free testosterone (T) in infant boys during minipuberty.
    • To compare salivary free T levels in infants with those in adolescents.
    • To establish reference data for salivary T in infants.

    Main Methods:

    • Serum total T and salivary free T were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).
    • Measurements were performed on 30 infant boys (1-6 months old) and 12 adolescents (11-17 years old).

    Main Results:

    • Infants showed high serum total T (172 ± 78 ng/dL) but low salivary T (7.7 ± 4 pg/mL, 0.45 ± 0.20%).
    • Adolescents had significantly higher salivary T (41 ± 18 pg/mL, 1.3 ± 0.36%) relative to their serum total T (323 ± 117 ng/dL).
    • This study provides the first reference data for salivary T in infants.

    Conclusions:

    • Salivary T measurement via LC-MS/MS is a viable, noninvasive method to assess free T in infants.
    • Low free T levels in infants during minipuberty account for the lack of virilization.
    • The significance of minipuberty is likely intragonadal rather than peripheral.
    Abstract

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