1. Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Stimulates Estrogen Biosynthesis in Cultured Human Placental Trophoblasts1
- Author
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Ruifang Yang, Xiaolu Tang, Lu Gao, Xin Ni, and Xingji You
- Subjects
endocrine system ,medicine.medical_specialty ,medicine.drug_class ,Antagonist ,Trophoblast ,Cell Biology ,General Medicine ,Biology ,Corticotropin-releasing hormone ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Endocrinology ,nervous system ,Reproductive Medicine ,Estrogen ,Fetal membrane ,Internal medicine ,Placenta ,polycyclic compounds ,medicine ,HSD17B1 ,hormones, hormone substitutes, and hormone antagonists ,Hormone - Abstract
Estrogens and corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) produced by the placenta play pivotal roles in the control of parturition in human and other primates. There is a strong correlation between maternal CRH and estrogen concentrations throughout gestation. To investigate whether CRH produced locally in the placenta could modulate estrogen production, we obtained human placental trophoblasts from uncomplicated term pregnancies and cultured them for 72 h. Cells were then treated with CRH and with a CRH receptor antagonist, alpha-helical CRH9-41. The results showed that CRH stimulated, but alpha-helical CRH9-41 inhibited, the production of estradiol in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Consistent with this thesis, CRH increased whereas alpha-helical CRH decreased the mRNA levels of STS, CYP19A1, and HSD17B1, the key enzymes for estrogen synthesis. These results suggest that, in the placenta, endogenously produced CRH exhibits a tonic stimulatory effect on estrogen production.
- Published
- 2006