In normal fetuses, GnRH-containing neurons are present in the human brain at the end of the first month of pregnancy [22]. Hypophysis is able to synthesize gonadotropins from at least 9 weeks of fetal life [23, 24], so the release of gonadotropins into the fetal circulation can be demonstrated by the beginning of the second trimester. Circulating luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels were significantly higher in female than in male fetuses at mid-gestation [25].
Differentiation of the genital tract depends on metabolic pathways initially orchestrated by the presence/absence of the SRY gene and by the action of anti-Müllerian hormones (AMH) and testosterone. Thus, it is expected that a female embryo, genetically XX, will not susceptible to the direct action of those signalers.
Fetal ovaries are unable to secrete AMH, but their ovarian expression can be detected by immunohistochemistry at the time of the third trimester, suggesting that AMH plays a role in ovarian development as early as the fetal period [16, 26]. Circulating FSH concentrations in female fetuses are high at mid-gestation, then decrease to low levels at birth, but transiently increase again during postnatal pituitary activation [25]. In premature girls, extremely high postnatal levels of FSH have been described, indicating an alteration in pituitary-ovarian function in infancy [27, 28].
In this sense, since the exposure of the central nervous system to amniotic fluid causes irreversible damage to the encephalic tissue, we could assume that the primary hormonal axis would be compromised in anencephalic fetuses, which could reflect the abnormal development of the reproductive organs [1, 9].
This correlation would be more assertive for male fetuses since the fetal ovaries are not thought to play any part in female sex differentiation, because they secrete little estrogen, even though follicles begin to develop at about 16 weeks and primordial follicles containing granulosa cells are present by 20 weeks [16]. It has been described that female external genitalia development is not subject to fetal gonadal hormones as in male fetuses [29, 30].
In male fetuses, the comparative study of the development of the genital tract of normal and anencephalic fetuses has been conducted over the years. Zondek & Zondek, during the 1960s, observed that the prostate showed marked, and in some instances extreme, metaplastic changes, sometimes even surpassing the appearance in normal controls [7]. In another paper, those researchers noted that the volume of the testis was smaller than that of controls with similar periods of development [12].
In our department, Pires et al. observed that the testicular volume of anencephalic fetuses did not increase with fetal age, and developed more slowly than in normal fetuses. On the other hand, the same research team did not observe significant differences in development of the prostate in fetuses with anencephaly [6, 9]. In the same sense, Carvalho and colleagues, using histological and immunolabeling techniques, concluded that anencephaly does not cause structural alterations in the fetal penis [8].
As for the female fetuses, Baker and Scrimgeour demonstrated that gonadal development was almost identical in the ovaries of anencephalic and control fetuses [31]. Zondek and Zondek reported a different result, suggesting that the volume of the ovary in anencephalics was larger than that of the controls up to 36 weeks of gestation and somewhat smaller in the last month of pregnancy; with no marked degree of hypoplasia [12].
Previous data from our department showed no differences in vaginal morphology, but the vaginal length and width were smaller in the anencephalic group during the second trimester of pregnancy [11]. Changes were perceived in relation to the external genitalia, with anencephalic fetuses tending to have more rudimentary external genitalia, with a reduction in anatomical distances from some reference points: length and width of the clitoris, length and width of the vaginal introitus, and distance between the labia majora and the clitoris-anus distance. Despite these findings, there was no significant change in the distance between the vaginal opening and the anus of these fetuses [10].
Comparative studies of the uterus between normal and anencephalic fetuses are scarce in the literature. Zondek and Zondek evaluated genital structures of female anencephalic fetuses, stillborn in the third trimester. Their histological investigation demonstrated normal uterine development, with vascular, stromal and glandular proliferation, glandular secretion present in varying degrees, and full development during the last month of pregnancy [32] .
The present paper reports the first normative parameters of uterine development during the second gestational trimester in human fetuses. The statistical analysis of our measurements indicates that the uterine diameters were similar between the evaluated groups. However, the growth in width and length appears to be slower in the anencephalic sample, which allows us to speculate that NTDs have little impact on uterine development during the second trimester. It also reveals the need for further investigation in this field, including ultrastructural and sophisticated histological studies, providing better assessment of these changes.
Some limitations of our study should be mentioned: (a) the unequal WPC of the anencephalic fetuses and the control group; (b) the lack of uterine histopathological analysis in our sample; and (c) the small sample size (however, anencephalic fetuses are rare, so the observations of a small sample are still relevant); and (d) measurement of uterine biometric parameters by a single observer, potentially leading to measurement bias.