Glucocorticoids and Reproduction: Traffic Control on the Road to Reproduction

Overview

Journal Trends Endocrinol Metab

Specialty Endocrinology

Date 2017 Mar 10

PMID 28274682

Citations 62

Authors

Shannon Whirledge

John A Cidlowski

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Glucocorticoids are steroid hormones that regulate diverse cellular functions and are essential to facilitate normal physiology. However, stress-induced levels of glucocorticoids result in several pathologies including profound reproductive dysfunction. Compelling new evidence indicates that glucocorticoids are crucial to the establishment and maintenance of reproductive function. The fertility-promoting or -inhibiting activity of glucocorticoids depends on timing, dose, and glucocorticoid responsiveness within a given tissue, which is mediated by the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The GR gene and protein are subject to cellular processing, contributing to signaling diversity and providing a mechanism by which both physiological and stress-induced levels of glucocorticoids function in a cell-specific manner. Understanding how glucocorticoids regulate fertility and infertility may lead to novel approaches to the regulation of reproductive function.

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