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| via fineartamerica.com |
"Estrogen produced in the brain is necessary for ovulation in monkeys, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who have upended the traditional understanding of the hormonal cascade that leads to release of an egg from the ovaries.
Their findings, published Dec. 11 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, may reveal the cause of some undiagnosed infertility problems and point the way to new methods of birth control.
For decades, scientists have known that a group of neurons in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus and cells in the pituitary gland control the menstrual cycle. The brain stimulates the pituitary to make hormones that, early in the menstrual cycle, spur the ovaries to produce estrogens -- predominantly a type of estrogen called estradiol.
Estradiol builds in the bloodstream until it reaches a concentration that causes a surge of the hypothalamic and pituitary hormones, including one called luteinizing hormone, which in turn trigger an ovary to release an egg.
"It's a feedback loop, and scientists have thought for some time that it was all to do with the estrogen from the ovaries," says Ei Terasawa, professor of pediatrics at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and senior scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. "Then, in 2013, we discovered the hypothalamus was releasing estradiol like the ovaries, and we were so surprised. We knew it had to be important..."
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Their findings, published Dec. 11 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, may reveal the cause of some undiagnosed infertility problems and point the way to new methods of birth control.
For decades, scientists have known that a group of neurons in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus and cells in the pituitary gland control the menstrual cycle. The brain stimulates the pituitary to make hormones that, early in the menstrual cycle, spur the ovaries to produce estrogens -- predominantly a type of estrogen called estradiol.
Estradiol builds in the bloodstream until it reaches a concentration that causes a surge of the hypothalamic and pituitary hormones, including one called luteinizing hormone, which in turn trigger an ovary to release an egg.
"It's a feedback loop, and scientists have thought for some time that it was all to do with the estrogen from the ovaries," says Ei Terasawa, professor of pediatrics at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and senior scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. "Then, in 2013, we discovered the hypothalamus was releasing estradiol like the ovaries, and we were so surprised. We knew it had to be important..."
Learn more:
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