Журнал «Здоровье ребенка» 3 (54) 2014

Puberty period whiche very one passes during one’s life and which is certainly genetically determined, most often reveals the influence of different adverse environmental factors on an organism. The most sensitive indicator of the effects of harmful factors is the body of a child, especially during critical periods of child development, one of which is puberty.

A thirteen-year monitoring of development of 1030 children (5 to 18 years) born to parents, liquidators of the Chernobyl disaster, (Basic Group - BG) and 780 of their peers from families with no radiation anamnesis (Comparison Group - CG) has been conducted. We studied the age dynamics of level of luteinizing (LH) and follicle-stimulating (FSH) hormones with the help of immunoenzyme method as well as concentration of sex hormones [testosterone (T), estradiol (E2) and their ratio], cortisol (C), prolactin (PRL) in blood serum using radioimmune method. Daily excretion of dioxyphenylalanine, dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA), adrenaline (A), and epiphysis hormone, melatonin (M), has been studied applying fluorometric methods.

Earlier onset of puberty of boys aged 10 from BG was testified by the fact that puberty changes in their genitalia were observed 2 times more often than those of boys from CG, which was confirmed by an increase in the index of masculinization. Moreover, the content of LH for 10-year-old boys with earlier onset of puberty change was significantly higher than that for their peers with normal pace of puberty. In addition, the boys from BG were only 11 years old when the correlation between gonadotropic hormone and masculinization index was determined. Earlier dates of activation of sympathoadrenal system was established, in accordance with the  indexes of DA content and NA excretion. Removal of melatonin blockage of hypophysial-gonadal system took place one to two years earlier.

Average age of entering into puberty of girls born to parents-liquidators was five months ahead of that of the girls from families without radiation history. Over a third of 9-year-old daughters of liquidators already had initial signs of sexual maturation which frequency is 2 times higher than that in CG. Thus, the onset of pubic hair of a half of the girls preceded the development of mammary gland. LH and FSH content in blood serum were reliably higher than those parameters in CG. C level in blood was credibly lower, and reduced level of urinary melatonin excretion was observed reliably more frequently. Relative hyperandrogenism and moderately expressed hypoestrogenia accompanied the formation of inverted puberty syndrome.

Thus, the earlier onset of puberty of descendants of irradiated parents is caused by changes in the main components of the functional system responsible for sexual development. We revealed that accelerated stimulation of hypophysial-gonadal system is a result of an earlier activation of biosynthesis of catecholamines and removal of melatonin blockage. Identified early pubertal hormonal features of the children from BG cause certain clinical signs of the first stages of their sexual maturation - advance development of secondary sex characteristics of persons of both sexes and accelerated development of androgen signs against the background of relative hyperandrogenia among girls. It provides grounds for more careful clinical supervision for the formation of reproductive system function in this group of children.