In birds, as in other vertebrates, reproduction is controlled by the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis with each component secreting specific neuropeptides or hormones. Until recently, it was believed this axis is exclusively under the stimulatory control of hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone I (GnRH-I) which in turn, stimulates luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormon...

CONTEXT The GnRH receptor plays a central role in regulating gonadotropin synthesis and release, and several mutations in the GNRHR gene have been reported in patients with idiopathic or familial forms of isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH). OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to investigate whether partial loss-of-function mutations in the GnRH receptor might be responsible for...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Hypothalamic hamartomas are the most common identifiable cause of central precocious puberty (CPP). Hamartoma characteristics proposed to be associated with CPP include specific anatomic features and expression of molecules such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), transforming growth factor alpha (TGFalpha), and GRM1A, which encodes the type 1 metabotropic glutamate recept...

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of KAL1, GNRH1, GNRHR, PROK2, and PROKR2 copy numbervariations in patients with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH). MATERIAL AND METHODS 86 hypogonadal males (76 diagnosed with normosmic idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism [nIHH] andten with Kallmann syndrome [KS]) and 95 healthy control individuals were s...

A proposed functional polymorphism in the ionotropic glutamate receptor AMPA1 (GRIA1) has been reported to influence antral follicle numbers and fertility in cows. Repeat breeder cows that fail to produce a calf in multiple seasons have been reported to have reduced numbers of small (1 to 3 mm) antral follicles in their ovaries. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that this GRIA1 polymorphism w...

FSH is an alpha/beta heterodimeric glycoprotein, the formation of which is regulated primarily by expression of its beta-subunit. Recent studies on transcriptional regulation of the ovine FSH beta-subunit gene (oFSHbeta) have defined two functional activating protein-1 (AP-1) enhancers in the proximal promoter (located at -120 and -83 bp) that are probably physiologically important for FSHbeta ...