Gonadotropin
| Glycoprotein hormone | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | |||||||||
| Symbol | Hormone_6 | ||||||||
SCOP2 | 1hcn / SCOPe / SUPFAM | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Gonadotropins are
Gonadotropin is sometimes abbreviated Gn. The alternative spelling gonadotrophin which inaccurately implies a nourishing mechanism[6] is also used.
There are various preparations of gonadotropins for therapeutic use, mainly as fertility medication. There are also fad diet or quack preparations, which are illegal in various countries.
Natural types and subunit structure
The two principal gonadotropins in vertebrates are
The alpha subunit is common to each protein dimer (well conserved within species, but differing between them),[4] and a unique beta subunit confers biological specificity.[7] The alpha chains are highly conserved proteins of about 100 amino acid residues which contain ten conserved cysteines all involved in disulfide bonds,[8] as shown in the following schematic representation.
+---------------------------+
+----------+| +-------------|--+
| || | | |
xxxxCxCxxxxxxCxCCxxxxxxxxxxxxxCCxxxxxxxxxxCxCxxCx
| | | |
+------|-----------------+ |
| |
+----------------------------+
'C': conserved cysteine involved in a disulphide bond.
Intracellular levels of free alpha subunits are greater than those of the mature glycoprotein, implying that hormone assembly is limited by the appearance of the specific beta subunits, and hence that synthesis of alpha and beta is independently regulated.[7]
Another human gonadotropin is human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), produced by the placenta during pregnancy.
Mechanism
Gonadotropins are released under the control of
by the ovaries.Although gonadotropins are secreted in a
Diseases
Gonadotropin deficiency due to
Failure or loss of the gonads usually results in elevated levels of LH and FSH in the blood.[10][11]
Pharmaceutical preparations
There are various
preparations, which are illegal in various countries.See also
References
- ISBN 0-444-50979-8.
- PMID 6267989.
- ^ PMID 1445230.
- ^ PMID 6177696.
- PMID 1713773.
- S2CID 9747521.
- ^ PMID 6314263.
- S2CID 4263358.
- ISBN 978-0-12-384908-3.
- S2CID 30479724.
- S2CID 6666672.
- ^ Menotropins at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
External links
- Gonadotropins at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
- 10th International Symposium on GnRH