Endocrine Abstracts

The gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurosecretory system represents the final common hypothalamic pathway in the neuroendocrine control of reproduction. Changing levels of the ovarian sex steroid hormone 17β-estradiol (E2) tightly regulate the activity of GnRH cells via feedback actions. Recently, our group has localized the second isoform of estrogen receptors (ER-β) within GnRH neurons of the rat brain, indicating that GnRH cells are capable of di...

Type 1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1) is the principal receptor for endocannabinoids in the brain which mainly occurs in preterminal/terminal axons and mediates retrograde neuronal signaling mechanisms. A large body of physiological and electrophysiological evidence indicates the critical role of CB1 in the regulation of hypothalamic functions. Conversely, the distribution of CB1-containing axons in the hypothalamus is essentially unknown. Therefore, we have analyzed the distribut...

Loss of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and cognitive deficits have recently been demonstrated by our group in conditions including Down syndrome and Alzhiemer’s disease. In some patients with COVID-19, olfactory and cognitive alterations persist, and persistent hypotestosteronemia in SARS-CoV-2-infected men could be a consequence of deficient GnRH. To understand whether neuroinvasion of GnRH system by SARS-CoV-2 could explain some post-COVID symptoms and thus resul...