Endocrine Abstracts

During the infantile-pubertal transition, a diversity of behavioral, physiological, morphological and molecular changes are required in order to attain fertility. An essential step in this process is the reactivation of the pituitary-gonadal axis by increased hypothalamic secretion of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH). This drives the adenohypophysis to increase the pulsatile release of luteinizing hormone (LH) with diurnal periodicity, the first endocrine sign of pubertal...

A prevailing concept regarding the mechanism controlling the timing of puberty proposes that GnRH release from the hypothalamus increases at puberty due to a loss of transsynaptic inhibition, accompanied by an increase in neuronal/glial excitatory inputs to GnRH neurons. Without negating the importance of this intercellular communication process, recent evidence suggests that a critical inhibitory/excitatory Yin-Yang mechanism regulating the advent of puberty is epigenetic in ...

The initiation of mammalian puberty requires an increased pulsatile release of gonadotrophin hormone releasing hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus. This increase is brought about by changes in transsynaptic and glial–neuronal communication. Coordination of this regulatory neuronal–glial network likely requires the participation of a multiplicity of genes hierarchically arranged within discrete, but interactive, networks. The identity and structural features of at le...

Endocrine disruptors are a rising concern for public health due to their ubiquitous presence affecting reproductive development throughout generations. We aim at studying the transgenerational effect of an EDC mixture on female sexual development and reproduction. Female rats (F0 generation) were orally exposed to a mixture of 14 anti-androgenic and estrogenic EDCs or corn oil for 2 weeks before and throughout gestation and until weaning. The mixture was composed of plasticize...