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Updated: Dec 21, 2025
Determination of Reproductive Competence by Confirming Pubertal Onset and Performing a Fertility Assay in Mice and Rats
Published on: October 13, 2018
Reproductive hormones during pubertal transition in girls with transient Thelarche
Julio Soto1, Ana Pereira2, Alexander Siegfried Busch3,4
1Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Maternal and Child Research (IDIMI), University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Context:
Transient thelarche (TT), that is, the appearance, regression and subsequent reappearance of breast buds, is a frequent phenomenon, but little is known about pubertal transition in these girls.
Objective:
To describe pubertal progression, growth, genotypes, reproductive hormones and growth factors in girls with TT compared to those who do not present TT (non-TT).
Design:
Retrospective analysis of a longitudinal population-based study.
Patients Or Other Participants:
Girls (n = 508) of the Chilean Growth and Obesity cohort.
Measurements:
Pubertal progression, reproductive hormones, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) beta subunit/FSH receptor gene single nucleotide polymorphisms and growth.
Results:
Thirty-seven girls (7.3%) were presented TT. These girls entered puberty by pubarche more frequently (51%) than girls with normal progression (non-TT; n = 471; 23%, P = .005). Girls with TT who were under 8 years old had lower androgens, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and oestradiol (all P < .05) than older girls with TT. At the time of Tanner breast stage 2 (B2), girls with TT had higher androgens, LH, FSH, IGF1, LH, insulin and oestradiol (P < .01) than at the time of TT. TT girls were older at B2 (10.3 ± 1.1 vs. 9.2 ± 1.2 years, P < .001) and menarche (12.3 ± 0.8 vs. 12.0 ± 1.0 years, P = .040) than their counterparts (non-TT). No differences in anthropometric variables or FSHB/FSHR genotypes were detected.
Conclusion:
Transient thelarche is a frequent phenomenon that does not appear to be mediated by hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis activation or by adiposity. Hormonal differences between earlier TT and later TT suggest that their mechanisms are different.
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