Glucocorticoids and Reproduction: Traffic Control on the Road to Reproduction

摘要

Glucocorticoids are steroid hormones that regulate diverse cellular functions and are essential to facilitate normal physiology. Yet, stress-induced levels of glucocorticoids result in several pathologies including profound reproductive dysfunction. Compelling new evidence indicates 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. The glucocorticoid receptor 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 function. Understanding how glucocorticoids regulate fertility and infertility may lead to novel approaches to the regulation of reproductive function.