INTRODUCTION There is a tendency among women today to delay the age at which they have their first child or subsequent children. This creates a dilemma for couples, since health professionals tend to counsel against pregnancy in women aged ≥40 years without considering their reproductive potential and their ability to and likelihood of conceiving and carrying to term a healthy newborn at little...

Estradiol is an ovarian steroid hormone that regulates physiological functions in the central nervous system, including mood, cognition, sleep and mental state. Emerging evidence has revealed that there is an enrichment of cells that express the estrogen receptor in the lateral habenula (LHb) region, however, the precise biological functions of estradiol on neurons in the LHb remain to be eluci...

Women with high circulating estrogen concentrations have an increased risk of breast cancer; thus, it is important to understand factors, including genetic variability, that influence estrogen concentrations. Several genetic polymorphisms that may influence sex hormone concentrations have been identified, including CYP17 (5'-untranslated region T-->C), CYP19 [intron 4 (TTTA)(n = 7-13) and a 3-b...

OBJECTIVE To determine the safety and efficacy of a transdermal nanostructured formulation of progesterone (10%) combined with estriol (0.1%) + estradiol (0.25%) for relieving postmenopausal symptoms. METHODS A total of 66 postmenopausal Brazilian women with climacteric symptoms of natural menopause received transdermal nanostructured formulations of progesterone and estrogens in the forearm ...

Very few studies have explored the cardiovascular effects of progesterone in premenopausal women. This study aimed to examine the short-term effects of oral progesterone alone, transdermal estrogen alone, and progesterone and estrogen combined on flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in healthy reproductive-aged women. We suppressed endogenous estrogens and progesterone in 17 premenopausal women for 10-...

Emerging evidence links insulin resistance, a key feature in type 2 diabetes with decreased leydig cell secretion of testosterone. Low gonadal steroids, which include testosterone, dihydrotestosterone and estradiol have also been implicated with metabolic abnormalities such as hyperglycemia, hypertension and cardiovascular risk. The aim of this study was to investigate hypogonadism and its risk...

BACKGROUND Stress and corticotropin-releasing hormone inhibit the reproductive axis. We hypothesized that reproductive axis hormone secretion, particularly luteinizing hormone secretion, is inhibited in women with depression, similar to what has been observed to be caused by stress in numerous species. METHODS Blood samples were collected every 10 minutes for 12 hours in 25 untreated premenop...

BACKGROUND Zoledronic acid (ZA) has antiresorptive effects and protects from bone metastasis in women with early breast cancer. In addition, in postmenopausal women with endocrine responsive breast cancer ZA prolongs DFS. The exact mechanism is still unclear. We have therefore investigated the effect of increasing concentrations of ZA in breast cancer cell lines in the absence or presence of es...

The luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone response of bull calves implanted with estradiol-17 beta to continuous and pulsatile infusion of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) has been examined. Estradiol-17 beta reduced serum LH and FSH concentrations and suppressed testosterone secretion and testicular growth when compared with sham-implanted bu...