Studies of human follitropin (hFSH) structure-activity relationships from the author' s laboratory are reviewed. These include mutagenesis studies that complemented the determination of the three dimensIonal structure of hFSH. Despite a large extracellular domain of the FSH receptor and the complexity and size of both the receptor and the hFSH molecule, only a handful of hFSH amino acids are re...

The interaction of highly purified pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG or eCG) has been studied in rat and equine testis homogenates. In the rat studies, unlabeled PMSG was shown to possess both high levels of intrinsic follitropin-like and lutropin-like activity when the inhibition of radioiodinated follitropin and lutropin binding by unlabeled PMSG was studied. Radioiodinated PMSG exhibite...

The Wt1 gene encodes a nuclear transcription factor that is specifically expressed in ovarian granulosa cells. However, the physiological significance of Wt1 in ovarian follicle development remains elusive. In this study, we found that Wt1(+/R394W) mice were grossly normal, however, the females displayed severe reproductive defects. Only ∼15% of the Wt1(+/R394W) females became pregnant after ma...

BACKGROUND The effect of menopausal transition on the frequency of migraine has never been the focus of a community-based study. METHODS A cross-sectional community-based survey was undertaken among Chinese women aged 40 to 54 years in Kinmen, Taiwan. Neurologists diagnosed migraine based on the 1988 International Headache Society classification criteria. Menstrual history including a past or...

The role of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in the control of spermatogenesis is not well established in any species, including man. We studied the effect of an experimentally-induced, selective FSH deficiency on sperm production in normal men. After a 3-mo control period, five normal men received testosterone enanthate (T) 200 mg i. m. weekly to suppress luteinizing hormone (LH) and FSH, un...