Uterine miR-877-3p and let-7a-5p are increased during simulated menstruation in a mouse model.

Heavy periods are common and debilitating, but we do not fully understand how they are caused. Increased understanding of menstrual bleeding could result in new treatments for problematic periods. Low oxygen levels are present in the womb lining during a period.

The endometrial response to modulation of ligand-progesterone receptor pathways is reversible.

Objective: To study the impact of the progesterone receptor modulator (PRM), ulipristal acetate (UPA), on endometrial morphology and function.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: University Research Institute.

Obesity is associated with heavy menstruation that may be due to delayed endometrial repair.

Heavy menstrual bleeding is common and debilitating but the causes remain ill defined. Rates of obesity in women are increasing and its impact on menstrual blood loss (MBL) is unknown. Therefore, we quantified BMI and MBL in women not taking hormones and with regular menstrual cycles and revealed a positive correlation.

Endometrial apoptosis and neutrophil infiltration during menstruation exhibits spatial and temporal dynamics that are recapitulated in a mouse model.

Menstruation is characterised by synchronous shedding and restoration of tissue integrity. An in vivo model of menstruation is required to investigate mechanisms responsible for regulation of menstrual physiology and to investigate common pathologies such as heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB). We hypothesised that our mouse model of simulated menstruation would recapitulate the spatial and temporal changes in the inflammatory microenvironment of human menses.

Adult-onset hypogonadotropic hypogonadism caused by aberrant expression of aromatase in an adrenocortical adenocarcinoma.

Estrogen-secreting adrenal cancers are extremely rare, with feminizing symptoms attributed to aromatase expression in the adrenal tumor. We describe a case of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism as a consequence of aberrant aromatase expression in a patient with adrenocortical adenocarcinoma. A 54 year-old man presented with a two month history of gynecomastia and reduced libido.

Estrogen biosynthesis in human H295 adrenocortical carcinoma cells.

Adrenocortical carcinoma is an uncommon malignancy and feminizing symptoms secondary to adrenal estrogen-secretion are extremely rare. The direct secretion of estradiol by adrenocortical tumors requires, in addition to the expression of aromatase (CYP19), the expression of one or more of the reductive 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases. The expression of CYP19 transcripts and protein were markedly induced in the H295 adrenocortical carcinoma cell line after treatment with either forskolin or vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP).

GnRH-mediated DAN production regulates the transcription of the GnRH receptor in gonadotrope cells.

The primary function of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is the regulation of pituitary gonadotropin hormone gene transcription, biosynthesis and release. These effects are mediated through intracellular mobilization of Ca2+ and activation of PKC isoforms and MAP kinases. We show here that DAN (differential screening-selected gene aberrative in neuroblastoma) which is a secreted bone morphogenic protein (BMP) antagonist belonging to the TGFbeta protein superfamily, is controlled by GnRH in murine gonadotrope cells.

Ovine steroid 17alpha-hydroxylase cytochrome P450: characteristics of the hydroxylase and lyase activities of the adrenal cortex enzyme.

The steroid 17-hydroxylase cytochrome P450 (CYP17) found in mammalian adrenal and gonadal tissues typically exhibits not only steroid 17-hydroxylase activity but also C-17,20-lyase activity. These two reactions, catalyzed by CYP17, allow for the biosynthesis of the glucocorticoids in the adrenal cortex, as a result of the 17-hydroxylase activity, and for the biosynthesis of androgenic C(19) steroids in the adrenal cortex and gonads as a result of the additional lyase activity. A major difference between species with regard to adrenal steroidogenesis resides in the lyase activity of CYP17 toward the hydroxylated intermediates and in the fact that the secretion of C(19) steroids takes place, in some species, exclusively in the gonads.