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Oestradiol, Aging Theory, Women/LGBT Difficulties and Motivation
Published in Debarshi Kar Mahapatra, Cristóbal Noé Aguilar, A. K. Haghi, Natural Products Pharmacology and Phytochemicals for Health Care, 2021
Francisco Torrens, Gloria Castellano
Estradiol is partially why post-menopausal women present brittle bones [11]. After menopause, women’s OEST levels drop dramatically, which results in their bones becoming weak and porous (osteoporosis). To combat this, post-menopausal women, or those who had a hysterectomy, are usually prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which typically involves ingesting a mixture of OEST, progesterone, and progestin to compensate for the amount they lost. One common OEST that is used in HRT is pregnant mares’ urine (Premarin), which is isolated from the urine of pregnant mares. It is actually mostly composed of estrone sulfate (cf. Figure 12.4). It may sound an odd thing to take, but this is converted directly into normal estradiol in the woman’s body.
Microbial Transformation of Steroids and Sterols
Published in Nduka Okafor, Benedict C. Okeke, Modern Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2017
Nduka Okafor, Benedict C. Okeke
Progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum, a body formed by the mature egg in the female ovary. In association with the estrogens, progesterone prepares the uterus for the implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterine wall. Corticosteroid hormones are produced by the cortex surrounding the adrenal glands located just above the kidneys. The main steroid hormones produced by the glands are corticosterone, cortisol, and aldosterone. Aldosterone is involved with mineral metabolism, mainly of sodium ions and hence indirectly affect the blood pressure. Cortisol and corticosterone help the body handle physiological stress including extreme cold. It is important to emphasize the significance of hormones as a background towards appreciating the impetus for the transformation of steroids.
Steroids: Arthritis, Fertility, Heart Attacks, And Home Run Records
Published in Richard J. Sundberg, The Chemical Century, 2017
The most recent controversy in fertility control in the United States has involved Mifepristone (RU486). RU486 was synthesized at Rousell-Uclaf in France. It is a progesterone analog that blocks implantation of the fertilized embryo. It is highly effective in preventing pregnancy within a few days of fertilization. It can also be used to induce abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, in which case a prostaglandin is also prescribed. At full term, RU486 promotes cervical expansion and can be used to induce labor. It also can be used to induce labor in the case of intrauterine death of the fetus. A related drug, ulipristal, was approved by the FDA in 2010.
Environmental chemicals and adverse pregnancy outcomes: Placenta as a target and possible driver of pre- and postnatal effects
Published in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 2023
Jing Li, Adrian Covaci, Da Chen
(1) Progesterone receptors (PRs). Progesterone is essential for the establishment and maintenance of human pregnancy, such as regulating maternal immune response and suppression of inflammatory response, improvement of utero-placental circulation (Merlino et al., 2007). DEHP and MEHP could restrain the proliferation of placental cells and promote the progesterone secretion via decreasing the level of PR in mouse placenta and JEG-3 cells (Zhang et al., 2020). BaP impaired decidualization response during early pregnancy, altered expression of decidualization-related factors, induced the down-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), and inhibited decidual angiogenesis. The progesterone-progesterone receptor mediated VEGF-A-VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) signaling pathway plays a key role in this process (Zhao et al., 2014). (2) Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Epidermal growth factor plays a major role in placental implantation, growth and differentiation. In human primary term cytotrophoblast cells models, exposure to bisphenol S at environmentally relevant concentrations reduced human cytotrophoblast syncytialization through the disruption of EGFR signaling (Ticiani et al., 2021).
The effect of sex hormones on skeletal muscle adaptation in females
Published in European Journal of Sport Science, 2022
Sarah E. Alexander, Alexander C. Pollock, Séverine Lamon
Estrogens and progestogens are the major female hormones. Estrogens are produced by the corpus luteum of the ovary, the placenta and to a lesser extent by adipose and other peripheral tissues, and are responsible for the development, regulation and maintenance of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics (Cui, Shen, & Li, 2013). The major bioactive estrogens are estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), and estriol (E3) (Cui et al., 2013). Progestogens, including the most abundant form progesterone, are primarily produced by the corpus luteum of the ovary and regulate the female menstrual cycle and pregnancy (Taraborrelli, 2015). The specific receptors for estrogens (ER) and progestogens (PR) are also expressed in human skeletal muscle (Ekenros et al., 2017). Unlike androgens and progestogens, which have a single receptor (the AR and the PR), there are multiple ERs found in both the cytosol (ERα and ERβ) and the sarcolemma of myocytes, including the g-protein coupled estrogen receptors (GPER), estrogen receptor-X (ER-X) and Gq-coupled membrane estrogen receptor (Gq-mER). These receptors act together to facilitate the function of female sex hormones in the regulation of muscle mass and contractility. The reason for multiple estrogen receptors in skeletal muscle is unclear but may stem from evolution.
The right to choose to abort an abortion: should pro-choice advocates support abortion pill reversal?
Published in The New Bioethics, 2022
Michal Pruski, Dominic Whitehouse, Steven Bow
Progesterone has long been used to help women preserve pregnancy in cases of threatened miscarriage, and the PROMISE study confirmed that progesterone in early pregnancy is safe among women with previous unexplained recurrent miscarriages and reassuringly found no increase in risk of congenital anomalies among offspring (Coomarasamy et al. 2015). Progesterone is also routinely used as luteal phase support to support pregnancies achieved using artificial reproductive technologies (Electronic Medicines Compendium 2022c). As such, while there is little high quality evidence available on APR itself, the use of progesterone to support pregnancies at risk of miscarriage is a well-established practice with good evidence of safety (Coomarasamy et al. 2015, NICE 2021). While mifepristone exposure is not present in these circumstances, and the evidence of safety and efficacy may not necessarily translate to APR, beneficial use of progesterone in such situations does support the existence of a mode of action that would, in principle, justify the use of progesterone in APR.