The direct importance of our work lies in the potential for greater understanding of GnRH signalling with physiologically relevant stimulation paradigms and identifying new drugs that could be used for fertility control and the treatment of hormone-dependent cancer.
Cells often communicate with one another using pulsatile signals, where information is conveyed in pulse frequency as well as amplitude. This raises the question of how cells decode pulsatile signals, a question that lies at the core of our understanding of how the brain controls reproduction. A mathematical model by Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova , Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Mathematics and Craig McArdle , Professor of Molecular Pharmacology in the School of Clinical Sciences , that challenges conventional wisdom regarding pulsatile GnRH signaling is published ahead of print in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface (June 2011 ePub). The mechanisms underlying cellular pulse frequency decoding are poorly understood. In this system, a small number of neurons in the brain secrete a protein hormone (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone - GnRH) that acts on cells in the pituitary gland to stimulate the synthesis and secretion of two gonadotrophin hormones (LH and FSH). These, in turn, control production of egg cells and sex steroid hormones in the gonads and in this way, GnRH mediates central control of reproduction. GnRH is secreted in bursts (normally pulses of a few minutes duration every 30 minutes to eight hours in humans) and its effects are dependent upon pulse frequency.
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