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Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a female, the testicles in a male.
Gonadarche marks the beginning of puberty and it is the process in which gonads, or the primary reproductive organs, mature, following stimulation of gonadotropin hormone-releasing hormone (GnRH) release in the hypothalamus. [6] The release of GnRH triggers a release of hormones that activate the maturation of the ovary and testis. [3]
[1] [6] Moreover, puberty is considered delayed if breast development does not start at age 13 or if a female has not had her first period within three years of thelarche. [7] Additionally, secondary breast development occurring before the age of 7 years could be a sign of premature thelarche or precocious puberty. Of note, for some girls ...
It can manifest as precocious puberty, and is caused by abnormally high levels of testosterone or estrogen, crucial hormones for sexual development. In some cases, it may be caused by a tumor, which can be malignant, but is more commonly benign. [2] Anabolic steroids may also be a major cause of high androgen and estrogen functional activity.
Gynecomastia of boys going through puberty. Hormonal imbalance (elevated ratio of estrogen to androgen) during early puberty, either due to decreased androgen production from the adrenals and/or increased conversion of androgens to estrogens, leads to transient gynecomastia in adolescent males.
African-American girls are especially prone to early puberty. [18] Though boys face fewer problems from early puberty than girls do, early puberty is not always positive for boys. Early sexual maturation in boys can be accompanied by increased aggressiveness due to the surge of pubertal hormones. [57]
When adrenarche, an increase in adrenal androgen production, central puberty, [14] and all disease-causing conditions have been excluded, the term isolated premature pubarche is used to describe the unexplained development of pubic hair at an early age in people without other hormonal or physical changes of puberty.
In most boys, these changes are indistinguishable from early testicular testosterone effects occurring at the beginning of gonadal puberty. In girls, the adrenal androgens of adrenarche produce most of the early androgenic changes of puberty: pubic hair, body odor, skin oiliness, and acne.