Menstruation Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Menstruation, including details on menstrual cycle, pregnancy, pain, irregular menstruation.

Minireview: timely ovulation: circadian regulation of the female hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis.

de la Iglesia HO, Schwartz WJ

Department of Biology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, Washington 98195-1800, USA. horaciod@u.washington.edu

The preovulatory surge in the secretion of LH is timed by a neuroendocrine integrative mechanism that involves ovarian estradiol levels and the endogenous circadian system. Studies in female rats and hamsters have established that the clock in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus has a preeminent role in setting the LH surge, and anatomical, physiological, and pharmacological data are revealing the responsible connections between suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons and GnRH and estradiol-receptive areas. Recent investigations show that GnRH and pituitary cells express circadian clock genes that might play a role in the release and reception of the GnRH signal. Analysis of the circadian regulation of the LH surge may provide a model for understanding how multiple neural oscillators function within other neuroendocrine axes.

Published 16 February 2006 in Endocrinology, 147(3): 1148-53.
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