Endocrine Abstracts

Puberty is a transition period of reproductive development from juvenile stages to adulthood and depends upon activity of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons. GnRH neurons are initially activated in utero, but remain quiescent throughout the juvenile period. Premature reactivation of GnRH neurons results in precocious puberty in mice and humans, but the mechanisms underlying developmental control of GnRH neuron activity remain unknown. The neuropeptide kisspeptin, a ...

Kallmann syndrome is a developmental disorder that associates anosmia, related to olfactory bulb aplasia, with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism caused by GnRH deficiency, clinically characterized by the absence of spontaneous puberty and infertility. GnRH deficiency results from the incomplete embryonic migration of neuroendocrine GnRH-cells from the nasal epithelium to the hypothalamic region of the brain, as a consequence of the premature interruption of olfactory, v...

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