Endocrine Abstracts

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...