Does prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) have psychiatric consequences?

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) has been widely used around the word in pregnancy care until the discovery in the early 1970s of the teratogenic and carcinog enic effects of this drug. The genital and obstetrical iatrogenic effects o f the intrauterine exposure to DES are now well established However, the po tential impact of the DES and related xenoestrogen on the foetal neurodevel opment are poorly known. It has been suggested that prenatal DES exposure m ay modify the cerebral lateralisation. A more speculative is due wit regard to the possible neurodevelopmental consequences of DES exposure is the pos sible impact on gender-identity and gender-related behavior. Prenatal DES e xposure maya be also a risk factor for psychiatric disorder in adulthood. T his increased liability can not be totally explained by the genital and rep roductive consequences of DES exposure, since it can also be found before t he appearance of such complications and/or in subjects unaware of their exp osure to DES, and also exists sin DES-exposed sons who do not present with somatic complications. Most previous studies have assessed the links betwee n perinatal DES exposure and increased risk of depression. A few reports al so suggest that subjects exposed to DES may abe at greater risk of eating o r psychotic disorders. Further research on the neuro-developmental conseque nces for xenoestrogen exposure is required from an aetiological perspective but also from a preventive point of view.