Paracetamol is the most frequently used medication during pregnancy. Among concerns about its prenatal use, the association with failure of the testes to descend in neonates is the latest. A new study investigating the origin of this malformation reports that paracetamol can reduce testosterone levels in host mice transplanted with human fetal testis tissue.
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Acknowledgements
B.J. acknowledges funding support from the Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Medicament (ANSM, grant no. AAP-2012-037), the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), the University of Rennes 1 and the Ecole des Hautes Études en Santé Publique (EHESP – School of Public Health).
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Jégou, B. Paracetamol-induced endocrine disruption in human fetal testes. Nat Rev Endocrinol 11, 453–454 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2015.106
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2015.106