The hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPG) is a complex neuroendocrine circuit involving multiple levels of regulation. Kisspeptin neurons play essential roles in controlling the HPG axis from the perspectives of puberty onset, oscillations of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) neuron activity, and the pre-ovulatory LH surge. The current studies focus on the expression of kisspeptin durin...

Avian reproductive system is regulated by the integrated system, the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. The HPG axis involves two major neuroendocrine systems controlling avian reproduction. These neuroendocrine systems include the chicken gonadotropin releasing hormone/follicle stimulating hormone-luteinizing hormone (GnRH/FSH-LH), and vasoactive intestinal peptide/prolactin (VIP/PRL) n...

Chlorophenols in the aquatic environment have been of concern due to their potential effects on human and wildlife. In the present study, the endocrine disrupting effects of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) were investigated in vitro and in vivo. In the in vitro assay, H295R human adrenocortical carcinoma cells were used to determine the potential effects of 2,4-DCP on steroidogenesis. Exposure to ...

Leptin signals energy sufficiency to the reproductive hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. Studies using genetic models have demonstrated that hypothalamic neurons are major players mediating these effects. Leptin receptor (LepR) is also expressed in the pituitary gland and in the gonads, but the physiological effects of leptin in these sites are still unclear. Female mice with selective ...

The hypothalamus plays a key role in the regulation of both energy homeostasis and reproduction. Evidence suggests that relaxin-3, a recently discovered member of the insulin superfamily, is an orexigenic hypothalamic neuropeptide. Relaxin-3 is thought to act in the brain via the RXFP3 receptor, although the RXFP1 receptor may also play a role. Relaxin-3, RXFP3, and RXFP1 are present in the hyp...

Reproduction is adversely affected by alcohol abuse in humans and laboratory animals. In rats, alcohol exposure suppresses both luteinizing hormone (LH) and sex steroid secretion, although consensus is lacking as to which level of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis is primarily affected. We tested the hypothesis that acute alcohol treatment inhibits the HPG axis by blunting release o...

UNLABELLED Aims/Introduction:  Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) increases the risk of developing diabetes mellitus (DM). This study was carried out to characterize Japanese patients who have fasting glucose levels (FPG) between 100 and 109 mg/dL (IFG100-109). MATERIALS AND METHODS   A total of 1383 Japanese participants were examined by oral glucose tolerance test. We compared insulin secretory...

The availability of long circulating, multifunctional polymers is critical to the development of drug delivery systems and bioconjugates. The ease of synthesis and functionalization make linear polymers attractive but their rapid clearance from circulation compared to their branched or cyclic counterparts, and their high solution viscosities restrict their applications in certain settings. Here...

Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) fiequently exhibit dysregulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reflected in elevated basal cortisol levels as well as resistance to feedback inhibition, which is typically manifested by resistance to suppression by dexamethasone (Carroll et al 1981; Stokes and Sikes 1988). Alterations in and interactions between the HPA and hypotha...

Prenatal stimulations have been shown to have long-term effects on at reproductive activity. We evaluated the influence of the prenatal stress on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad (HPG) axis in male offsprings from mothers with high number of offsprings per litter (HNL) and low number of offsprings per litter (LNL) after hypothesizing that the number of offsprings per litter may modify the effec...