It is generally well accepted that the pubertal surge in estrogen is responsible for the rapid bone accretion that occurs during puberty and that this effect is mediated by an estrogen-induced increase in growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) action. To test the cause and effect relationship between estrogen and GH/IGF, we evaluated the consequence of ovariectomy (OVX) in prepube...

BACKGROUND Current strategies in cancer treatment have markedly increased the rates of remission and survival for cancer patients, but are often associated with subsequent sterility. While there are various options available to an adult female depending on the patient's particular situation, the only realistic option for preserving fertility in prepubertal females is to cryopreserve ovarian tis...

Mammalian ovaries are endowed with a huge number of small oocytes in primordial follicles (primordial oocytes). The mechanism regulating initiation of oocyte growth and follicular development is not well understood. Several growth factors and cytokines are known to be involved in oocyte growth and follicular development. Herein, the involvement of KIT, a receptor tyrosine kinase, and its ligand...

The blood testis-barrier (BTB) is essential for maintaining homeostasis in the seminiferous epithelium. Although many studies have reported that vitamin A (VA) is required for the maintenance of spermatogenesis, the relationships between the BTB, spermatogenesis and VA have not been elucidated. In this study, we analyzed BTB assembly and spermatogenesis in the testes of mice fed the VA-deficien...

33 34 Numerous developmental changes in the nervous system occur during the first several 35 weeks of the rodent lifespan. Therefore many characteristics of neuronal function described at 36 the cellular level from in vitro slice experiments conducted during this early time period may not 37 generalize to adult ages. We investigated the effect of dopamine on inhibitory synaptic 38 transmission ...

Testosterone plays a central role in the facilitation of male-type social behaviors, such as sexual and aggressive behaviors, and the development of their neural bases in male mice. The action of testosterone via estrogen receptor (ER) α, after being aromatized to estradiol, has been suggested to be crucial for the full expression of these behaviors. We previously reported that silencing of ERα...

The aim of this study was to analyse the effects type extracurricular sport on body composition, respiratory parameters, and physical condition in prepubertal pubertal girls. Four hundred eighty-five female athletes (aged 8–14) from different sports participated study. They were gathered into four groups according typology maturity level: ‘prepubertal girls who practise collective sports’ (PRE-...

The hormonal regulation of human CYP2C18 and CYP2C19, which are expressed in a male-specific manner in liver and kidney in a mouse transgenic model, was examined. The influence of prepubertal castration in male mice and testosterone treatment of female mice was investigated, as was the effect of continuous administration of growth hormone (GH) to transgenic males. Prepubertal castration of tran...