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L2 PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION: FOCUS ON FSH AND LH GENETICS
Reproductive BioMedicine Online 21 Suppl. 1 (2010) S7 S12
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Abstracts Lectures L1 EPIDEMIOLOGY OF INFERTILITY AND FACTORS AFFECTING OVARIAN FUNCTION M. Bustillo. South Florida Institute For Reproductive Medicine, Miami, USA Infertility is generally defined as failure to conceive after one year of unprotected coitus. This definition is modified for the woman over 35 and for the couple in which a known factor is obviously present when first attempting to conceive. Infertility affects about 12% of couples of reproductive age and over 7 million people in the United States. Infertility is due to a female factor about 50% of the time, a male factor in about 40% and a combination of factors or unexplained in the remainder of cases. Ovulatory problems account for about 20% of cases. There are multiple factors that can affect ovarian function. Many factors clearly affect ovarian function as well as the results of treatment for infertility. The presence of polycystic ovarian disease, hyperprolactinemia, and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism are generally associated with anovulation. Polycystic ovarian syndrome, presenting with a wide range of clinical symptoms that may include hyperandrogenism, obesity, oligo- or anovulation is the most prevalent endocrine disorder in women and the most common cause of ovulatory dysfunction. Other important factors affecting ovulation include a woman’s chronologic age, and her “ovarian age” which can be influenced by genetics, previous ovarian surgery, endometriosis, and lifestyle factors such as body weight (BMI), excessive exercise, and cigarette smoking. Women in developed countries are undoubtedly delaying child bearing and the prevalence of infertility is higher in women as they get older. Age is a most important issue in infertility treatment results. Results of assisted reproductive technologies, reported annually by mandate in the USA, clearly show a marked drop in success in the older women. Age affects both the success of conceiving as well as of delivering a child. This drop in success is negated with the use of a younger woman’s eggs (oocyte donation) clearly showing the importance of the age of the oocyte. Reference(s) S. Brugo-Olmedo. Definition and causes of infertility. RBMOnline, 2001, 2: 41\ernbnd;53. Dimitrios Nikolaou. How old are your eggs? Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology 2008, 20: 540 544. Cemal Tamer Erel and Levent Mehmet Senturk. The impact of body mass index on assisted reproduction. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology 2009, 21: 228 235.
L2 PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION: FOCUS ON FSH AND LH GENETICS C.Y. Andersen. University Hospital of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark The two gonadotropins FSH and LH exert several diverse and different functions on their target cells in the ovary. Whereas FSH receptors (FSHr) are exclusively located on the surface of the granulosa cells, LH receptors (LHr) are constitutively expressed on the surface of theca cells and become expressed on the granulosa cells as the follicle matures. FSH has an important function in inducing LH-receptor expression on the granulosa cells and thereby change ranulosa cells sensitivity to gonadotropins. Activation of the gonadotropin receptors stimulates a number of well-characterized intracellular signal transduction pathways, like the cAMP induced pathway. However, other signal transduction pathways are also involved and a number of biological actions and their regulation are not fully understood, including initiation and regulation of receptor expression. Our activities in connection with cryopreservation of human ovarian tissue for fertility purposes has allowed the collection of both follicular fluid and granulosa cells from a number of small antral human follicles with a diameter of 3 to 9 millimetres. The mRNA expression of FSHr, LHr, AMH-r2, Androgen-receptor (AR) and CYP19 has been determined in these granulosa cells by quantitative RT-PCR. These expression data will be correlated to the hormone profiles in the corresponding follicular fluid, including measurements of AMH, inhibin-B, oestradiol, progesterone, androstenedione and testosterone. LHr mRNA expression was present in these small follicles and their expression correlate with the intrafollicular concentrations of progesterone. The data has shown new interesting correlations between AR expression and expression of gonadotropins receptors. In addition, intrafollicular concentrations of oestradiol show an inverse correlation with CYP 19 expression. Thus, the presentation will provide new data on the interactions between the expressions of gonadotropins receptors in immature granulosa cells from women in their natural menstrual cycle in relation to expression of AR, AMH-r2 and CYP 19 and discuss possible interactions with follicular steroid regulation and production. L3 THE RELEVANCE OF “LH WINDOW” IN REPRODUCTIVE CYCLES S. Esteves. Andrology Department Androfert, Center of Reproductive Medicine, Campinas, Brazil In the normal menstrual cycle both FSH and LH play essential roles in the development and selection of the ovulatory follicle as well as in the proliferation of endometrium and formation of corpus luteum. FSH receptors are expressed only at the granulosa cells while LH receptors are expressed in both theca and granulosa cells. Although FSH is the main regulator of antral follicular growth, LH plays a key role in promoting steroidogenesis and development of the leading
1472-6483/$ - see front matter © 2010, Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
www.sciencedirect.com www.rbmonline.com
Abstracts Lectures L1 EPIDEMIOLOGY OF INFERTILITY AND FACTORS AFFECTING OVARIAN FUNCTION M. Bustillo. South Florida Institute For Reproductive Medicine, Miami, USA Infertility is generally defined as failure to conceive after one year of unprotected coitus. This definition is modified for the woman over 35 and for the couple in which a known factor is obviously present when first attempting to conceive. Infertility affects about 12% of couples of reproductive age and over 7 million people in the United States. Infertility is due to a female factor about 50% of the time, a male factor in about 40% and a combination of factors or unexplained in the remainder of cases. Ovulatory problems account for about 20% of cases. There are multiple factors that can affect ovarian function. Many factors clearly affect ovarian function as well as the results of treatment for infertility. The presence of polycystic ovarian disease, hyperprolactinemia, and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism are generally associated with anovulation. Polycystic ovarian syndrome, presenting with a wide range of clinical symptoms that may include hyperandrogenism, obesity, oligo- or anovulation is the most prevalent endocrine disorder in women and the most common cause of ovulatory dysfunction. Other important factors affecting ovulation include a woman’s chronologic age, and her “ovarian age” which can be influenced by genetics, previous ovarian surgery, endometriosis, and lifestyle factors such as body weight (BMI), excessive exercise, and cigarette smoking. Women in developed countries are undoubtedly delaying child bearing and the prevalence of infertility is higher in women as they get older. Age is a most important issue in infertility treatment results. Results of assisted reproductive technologies, reported annually by mandate in the USA, clearly show a marked drop in success in the older women. Age affects both the success of conceiving as well as of delivering a child. This drop in success is negated with the use of a younger woman’s eggs (oocyte donation) clearly showing the importance of the age of the oocyte. Reference(s) S. Brugo-Olmedo. Definition and causes of infertility. RBMOnline, 2001, 2: 41\ernbnd;53. Dimitrios Nikolaou. How old are your eggs? Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology 2008, 20: 540 544. Cemal Tamer Erel and Levent Mehmet Senturk. The impact of body mass index on assisted reproduction. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology 2009, 21: 228 235.
L2 PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION: FOCUS ON FSH AND LH GENETICS C.Y. Andersen. University Hospital of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark The two gonadotropins FSH and LH exert several diverse and different functions on their target cells in the ovary. Whereas FSH receptors (FSHr) are exclusively located on the surface of the granulosa cells, LH receptors (LHr) are constitutively expressed on the surface of theca cells and become expressed on the granulosa cells as the follicle matures. FSH has an important function in inducing LH-receptor expression on the granulosa cells and thereby change ranulosa cells sensitivity to gonadotropins. Activation of the gonadotropin receptors stimulates a number of well-characterized intracellular signal transduction pathways, like the cAMP induced pathway. However, other signal transduction pathways are also involved and a number of biological actions and their regulation are not fully understood, including initiation and regulation of receptor expression. Our activities in connection with cryopreservation of human ovarian tissue for fertility purposes has allowed the collection of both follicular fluid and granulosa cells from a number of small antral human follicles with a diameter of 3 to 9 millimetres. The mRNA expression of FSHr, LHr, AMH-r2, Androgen-receptor (AR) and CYP19 has been determined in these granulosa cells by quantitative RT-PCR. These expression data will be correlated to the hormone profiles in the corresponding follicular fluid, including measurements of AMH, inhibin-B, oestradiol, progesterone, androstenedione and testosterone. LHr mRNA expression was present in these small follicles and their expression correlate with the intrafollicular concentrations of progesterone. The data has shown new interesting correlations between AR expression and expression of gonadotropins receptors. In addition, intrafollicular concentrations of oestradiol show an inverse correlation with CYP 19 expression. Thus, the presentation will provide new data on the interactions between the expressions of gonadotropins receptors in immature granulosa cells from women in their natural menstrual cycle in relation to expression of AR, AMH-r2 and CYP 19 and discuss possible interactions with follicular steroid regulation and production. L3 THE RELEVANCE OF “LH WINDOW” IN REPRODUCTIVE CYCLES S. Esteves. Andrology Department Androfert, Center of Reproductive Medicine, Campinas, Brazil In the normal menstrual cycle both FSH and LH play essential roles in the development and selection of the ovulatory follicle as well as in the proliferation of endometrium and formation of corpus luteum. FSH receptors are expressed only at the granulosa cells while LH receptors are expressed in both theca and granulosa cells. Although FSH is the main regulator of antral follicular growth, LH plays a key role in promoting steroidogenesis and development of the leading
1472-6483/$ - see front matter © 2010, Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.