 |
| via college.unc.edu |
Source: INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) | Summary: Individual small RNAs are responsible for controlling the expression of gonadoliberin or GnRH (Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone), a neurohormone that controls sexual maturation, the appearance of puberty, and fertility in adults, new research shows. The involvement of microRNAs, transcribed from DNA, occurs around birth, and marks a key step in postnatal development.
"Individual small RNAs are responsible for controlling the expression of gonadoliberin or GnRH (Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone), a neurohormone that controls sexual maturation, the appearance of puberty, and fertility in adults. This has just been demonstrated by the "Development and Plasticity of the Neuroendocrine Brain" team led by Vincent Prévot, Inserm Research Director (Jean-Pierre Aubert Research Centre, Lille).
The involvement of microRNAs, transcribed from DNA, occurs around birth, and marks a key step in postnatal development. Failure of these microRNAs to act leads to the disruption or even total cessation of GnRH production by the hypothalamic neurons that synthesise it, and hence to infertility. In the most serious cases, sterility may result. Details of this work in mice are published in the 2 May 2016 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Reproductive function is determined by events that take place in the brain. Gametogenesis (the production of spermatozoa and oocytes) and the secretion of hormones by the ovaries and testes are heavily dependent on the hypophysis, a small gland located below the brain, to which it is connected by a capillary network. The latter is in turn controlled by a glandular "orchestra conductor" located at the base of the brain, the hypothalamus. During postnatal development, activation of a small number of highly specialised neurons (the GnRH neurons) in the hypothalamus leads to the synthesis of a hormone, gonadoliberin or GnRH (Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone), and this process leads to the appearance of puberty..."
Read more here:
No comments:
Post a Comment