Corpus luteum as a novel target of weight changes that contribute to impaired female reproductive physiology and function.

Corpus luteum as a novel target of weight changes that contribute to impaired female reproductive physiology and function. Syst Biol Reprod Med. 2016 May 17;:1-16 Authors: Kuokkanen S, Polotsky AJ, Chosich J, Bradford AP, Jasinska A, Phang T, Santoro N, Appt SE Abstract Obesity and malnutrition are associated with decreased fecundity in women. Impaired reproductive capacity in obese women is often attributed to anovulation. However, obese women with ovulatory cycles also have reduced fertility, but the etiology of their impaired reproduction is only partially understood. Accumulating evidence suggests that obesity directly impairs oocyte and embryo quality as well as endometrial receptivity. In obese women, urinary progesterone metabolite excretion is decreased, but in excess of what can be explained by suppressed gonadotropin secretion, suggesting that apart from its central effect obesity may directly affect progesterone (P4) production. These observations have led to the novel hypothesis that obesity directly affects corpus luteum (CL) function. Similarly, we hypothesize that weight loss may contribute to luteal dysfunction. Here, we propose a non-human primate model, the vervet monkey, to examine the effect of weight gain and loss on menstrual cycle parameters and CL gene expression. In this model, weight gain and loss did not significantly alter menstrual cyclicity; however, both induced alterations in the CL transcriptome. In t...
Source: Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine - Category: Reproduction Medicine Authors: Tags: Syst Biol Reprod Med Source Type: research