Reproduction Abstracts

The adipose hormone, leptin, which was identified in 1994, has been universally recognized as an essential metabolic signal that transmits information about the magnitude of body energy reserves to the brain centers controlling body weight homeostasis and energy expenditure. In addition, leptin serves a fundamental function as integrator of metabolism and other key bodily systems, ranging from immune responses to the reproductive axis. On the latter, leptin is known to metabol...

PI3K is a family of enzyme involved in cellular functions such as cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, motility, survival and intracellular trafficking. The PI3K-Akt signaling pathway negatively is regulated by PTEN. Recently, we developed the method for activation of dormant follicles by using in vitro culture of ovarian fragments treated with PTEN inhibitor and PI3K activator (IVA, in vitro activation). We applied this approach to infertility treatm...

Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is a testicular Sertoli cell product belonging to the TGF-beta superfamily responsible for regression of the Mullerian ducts in the male foetus. It plays a pivotal role in sexual differentiation of the internal genital ducts. The existence of AMH was first postulated by Alfred Jost in the 1950s and was long considered to be a foetal testis-specific factor. However, it has since emerged that AMH and its receptors are also expressed by the post-natal...