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International Journal of Molecular... May 2023Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), together with luteinizing hormone (LH) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), plays a fundamental role in human reproduction. The... (Review)
Review
Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), together with luteinizing hormone (LH) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), plays a fundamental role in human reproduction. The discovery of FSH and other gonadotropins was a defining moment in our understanding of reproduction and led to the development of many treatments for infertility. In this regard, exogenous FSH has been used to treat infertility in women for decades. Today, several recombinant and highly purified urinary forms of FSH are used in medically assisted reproduction (MAR). However, differences in the macro- and micro-heterogeneity of FSH result in a variety of FSH glycoforms, with glycoform composition determining the bioactivity (or potency), pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) profiles, and clinical efficacy of the different forms of FSH. This review illustrates how the structural heterogeneity of FSH glycoforms affects the biological activity of human FSH products, and why potency does not predict effects in humans in terms of PK, PD, and clinical response.
Topics: Female; Humans; Follicle Stimulating Hormone; Follicle Stimulating Hormone, Human; Biological Products; Chorionic Gonadotropin; Infertility; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 37240364
DOI: 10.3390/ijms24109020 -
Biology of Reproduction Jan 2023The placenta is an important organ for the exchange of substances between the fetus and the mother, hormone secretion, and fetoplacental immunological defense. Placenta... (Review)
Review
The placenta is an important organ for the exchange of substances between the fetus and the mother, hormone secretion, and fetoplacental immunological defense. Placenta has an organ-specific distribution of ion channels and trophoblasts, and placental vessels express a large number of ion channels. Several placental housekeeping activities and pregnancy complications are at least partly controlled by ion channels, which are playing an important role in regulating hormone secretion, trophoblastic homeostasis, ion transport, and vasomotor activity. The function of several placental ion channels (Na, Ca, and Cl ion channels, cation channel, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, and aquaporin-1) is known to be influenced by chemical exposure, i.e., their responses to different chemicals have been tested and confirmed in experimental models. Here, we review the possibility that placental ion channels are targets of toxicological concern in terms of placental function, fetal growth, and development.
Topics: Pregnancy; Female; Humans; Placenta; Ion Channels; Trophoblasts; Biological Transport; Hormones
PubMed: 36173899
DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioac186 -
Clinica Chimica Acta; International... Jan 2024Reproductive biomarkers are important regulators in women, especially during pregnancy and childbirth. Because of their essential role in women's health, the discovery... (Review)
Review
Reproductive biomarkers are important regulators in women, especially during pregnancy and childbirth. Because of their essential role in women's health, the discovery and quantification of reproductive biomarkers is of great clinical importance. Nowadays, there are many detection strategies to detect these biomarkers, including VEGF, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), etc. Consider the limitations and problems of conventional diagnostic methods, new methods are being developed, one of the most important being methods based on nanotechnology. This review includes a review of methods for diagnosing reproductive biomarkers, ranging from mainstream to nanotechnology-based methods. The bulk of this article is an in-depth introduction to the latest advances in biosensor and nanosensor research for the detection and quantitative identification of reproductive biomarkers.
Topics: Pregnancy; Humans; Female; Reproduction; Chorionic Gonadotropin; Biomarkers; Parturition
PubMed: 37992849
DOI: 10.1016/j.cca.2023.117668 -
Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory... Dec 2020
Topics: Chorionic Gonadotropin; Female; Humans; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Tests
PubMed: 33554533
DOI: 10.1515/cclm-2020-1797 -
Cell Proliferation May 2023The placental barrier plays a key role in protecting the developing fetus from xenobiotics and exchanging substances between the fetus and mother. However, the...
The placental barrier plays a key role in protecting the developing fetus from xenobiotics and exchanging substances between the fetus and mother. However, the trophoblast cell lines and animal models are often inadequate to recapitulate the key architecture and functional characteristics of human placental barrier. Here, we described a biomimetic placental barrier model from human trophoblast stem cells (hTSCs) in a perfused organ chip system. The placental barrier was constructed by co-culture of hTSCs and endothelial cells on the opposite sides of a collagen-coated membrane on chip. hTSCs can differentiate into cytotrophoblasts (CT) and syncytiotrophoblast (ST), which self-assembled into bilayered trophoblastic epithelium with placental microvilli-like structure under dynamic cultures. The formed placental barrier displayed dense microvilli, higher level secretion of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), enhanced glucose transport activity. Moreover, RNA-seq analysis revealed upregulated ST expression and activation of trophoblast differentiation-related signalling pathways. These results indicated the key role of fluid flow in promoting trophoblast syncytialization and placental early development. After exposure to mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, one of the endocrine disrupting chemicals, the model showed inhibited hCG production and disturbed ST formation in trophoblastic epithelium, suggesting impaired placental structure and function elicited by environmental toxicants. Collectively, the hTSCs-derived placental model can recapitulate placenta physiology and pathological response to external stimuli in a biomimetic manner, which is useful for the study of placental biology and associated diseases.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Pregnancy; Female; Placenta; Trophoblasts; Microphysiological Systems; Endothelial Cells; Chorionic Gonadotropin; Cell Differentiation; Stem Cells
PubMed: 37199016
DOI: 10.1111/cpr.13469 -
Frontiers in Endocrinology 2022Human placenta secretes a variety of hormones, some of them in large amounts. Their effects on maternal physiology, including the immune system, are poorly understood.... (Review)
Review
Human placenta secretes a variety of hormones, some of them in large amounts. Their effects on maternal physiology, including the immune system, are poorly understood. Not one of the protein hormones specific to human placenta occurs outside primates. Instead, laboratory and domesticated species have their own sets of placental hormones. There are nonetheless several examples of convergent evolution. Thus, horse and human have chorionic gonadotrophins with similar functions whilst pregnancy-specific glycoproteins have evolved in primates, rodents, horses, and some bats, perhaps to support invasive placentation. Placental lactogens occur in rodents and ruminants as well as primates though evolved through duplication of different genes and with functions that only partially overlap. There are also placental hormones, such as the pregnancy-associated glycoproteins of ruminants, that have no equivalent in human gestation. This review focusses on the evolution of placental hormones involved in recognition and maintenance of pregnancy, in maternal adaptations to pregnancy and lactation, and in facilitating immune tolerance of the fetal semiallograft. The contention is that knowledge gained from laboratory and domesticated mammals can translate to a better understanding of human placental endocrinology, but only if viewed in an evolutionary context.
Topics: Animals; Female; Glycoproteins; Horses; Humans; Models, Animal; Placenta; Placental Hormones; Placentation; Pregnancy; Rodentia
PubMed: 35692413
DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2022.891927 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jan 2022Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) has four major isoforms: classical hCG, hyperglycosylated hCG, free β subunit, and sulphated hCG. Classical hCG is the first molecule... (Review)
Review
Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) has four major isoforms: classical hCG, hyperglycosylated hCG, free β subunit, and sulphated hCG. Classical hCG is the first molecule synthesized by the embryo. Its RNA is transcribed as early as the eight-cell stage and the blastocyst produces the protein before its implantation. This review synthetizes everything currently known on this multi-effect hormone: hCG levels, angiogenetic activity, immunological actions, and effects on miscarriages and thyroid function.
Topics: Animals; Blastocyst; Chorionic Gonadotropin; Embryo Implantation; Embryonic Development; Humans; Protein Isoforms
PubMed: 35163303
DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031380 -
Best Practice & Research. Clinical... Jul 2021Hydatidiform mole (HM) occurs in 1:500-1000 pregnancies and are generally characterised as a benign proliferative disorder of chorionic villous trophoblast. HM belongs... (Review)
Review
Hydatidiform mole (HM) occurs in 1:500-1000 pregnancies and are generally characterised as a benign proliferative disorder of chorionic villous trophoblast. HM belongs to the group of disorders, collectively known as gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD), which include invasive mole, choriocarcinoma, placental site trophoblastic tumour and epitheloid trophoblastic tumour. Patients with HM are at increased risk of developing these malignant forms and hence accurate diagnosis is very important for monitoring persistent diseases and informing correct patient management. In this review, we describe the current model for HM follow-up in the UK, with special emphasis on the in-house human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) radioimmunoassay (RIA) currently employed for monitoring women in our programme. We briefly discuss the structure, function and significance of hCG monitoring in GTD and the limitations and benefits of the current assays used for measuring oncology hCG. In particular, we describe the preliminary work evaluating a replacement antibody for the current gold-standard UK-RIA method.
Topics: Chorionic Gonadotropin; Female; Gestational Trophoblastic Disease; Humans; Hydatidiform Mole; Placenta; Pregnancy; Uterine Neoplasms
PubMed: 34074603
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2021.05.001 -
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology... Feb 2022
Topics: Breast Feeding; Female; Fluorocarbons; Humans; Lactation; Placenta; Placental Hormones; Pregnancy
PubMed: 34562075
DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgab702 -
Journal of Neuroendocrinology Nov 2020The four genes coding for placental members of the human (h) growth hormone (GH) family include two that code independently for placental lactogen (PL), also known as... (Review)
Review
The four genes coding for placental members of the human (h) growth hormone (GH) family include two that code independently for placental lactogen (PL), also known as chorionic somatomammotrophin hormone, one that codes for placental growth hormone (PGH) and a pseudogene for which RNA but no protein product is reported. These genes are expressed preferentially in the villus syncytiotrophoblast of the placenta in pregnancy. In higher primates, the placental members, including hPL and PGH, are the result of multiple duplication events of the GH gene. This contrasts with rodents and ruminants, where PLs result from duplication of the prolactin (PRL) gene. Thus, unlike their mouse counterparts, the hPL and PGH hormones bind both lactogenic and somatogenic receptors with varying affinity. Roles influenced by nutrient availability in both metabolic control in pregnancy and maternal behaviour are supported. However, the effect maternal obesity has on the activation of placental members of the hGH gene family, particularly the expression and function of those genes, is poorly understood. Evidence from partially humanised hGH/PL transgenic mice indicates that both the remote upstream hPL locus control region (LCR) and more gene-related regulatory regions are required for placental expression in vivo. Furthermore, a specific pattern of interactions between the LCR and hPL gene promoter regions is detected in term placenta chromatin from women with a normal body mass index (BMI) in the range 18.5-25 kg m by chromosome conformation capture assay. This pattern is disrupted with maternal obesity (class II BMI > 35 kg m ) and associated with a > 40% decrease in term hPL RNA levels, as well as serum hPL but not PRL levels, during pregnancy. The relative importance of the chromosomal architecture and predicted properties for transcription factor participation in terms of hPL production and response to obesity are considered, based on comparison with components required for efficient human pituitary GH gene expression.
Topics: Animals; Female; Gene Expression Regulation; Humans; Obesity; Placenta; Placental Lactogen; Pregnancy
PubMed: 32500948
DOI: 10.1111/jne.12859