beta-endorphin and Anovulation

Topics: Anovulation; beta-Endorphin; Female; Gonadotropins, Pituitary; Humans; Menstruation Disturbances; Pituitary Hormone-Releasing Hormones; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome; Reproduction

The present study was designed to evaluate if electro-acupuncture (EA) could affect oligo-/anovulation and related endocrine and neuroendocrine parameters in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).. Twenty-four women (between the ages of 24 and 40 years) with PCOS and oligo-/amenorrhea were included in this non-randomized, longitudinal, prospective study. The study period was defined as the period extending from 3 months before the first EA treatment, to 3 months after the last EA treatment (10-14 treatments), in total 8-9 months. The menstrual and ovulation patterns were confirmed by recording of vaginal bleedings and by daily registrations of the basal body temperature (BBT). Blood samples were collected within a week before the first EA, within a week after the last EA and 3 months after EA.. Nine women (38%) experienced a good effect. They displayed a mean of 0.66 ovulations/woman and month in the period during and after the EA period compared to a mean of 0.15 before the EA period (p=0.004). Before EA, women with a good effect had a significantly lower body-mass index (BMI) (p<0.001), waist-to-hip circumference ratio (WHR) (p=0.0058), serum testosterone concentration (p=0.0098), serum testosterone/sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) ratio (p=0.011) and serum basal insulin concentration (p=0.0054), and a significantly higher concentration of serum SHBG (p=0.040) than did those women with no effect.. Repeated EA treatments induce regular ovulations in more than one third of the women with PCOS. The group of women with good effect had a less androgenic hormonal profile before treatment and a less pronounced metabolic disturbance compared with the group with no effect. For this selected group EA offers an alternative to pharmacological ovulation induction.

Topics: Adult; Androgens; Anovulation; beta-Endorphin; Body Constitution; Body Mass Index; Electroacupuncture; Female; Gonadotropins; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Ovulation Induction; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome; Prolactin; Prospective Studies; Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin

To examine the interaction between circulating beta-endorphin levels and sex steroids during sustained submaximal exercise in runners who are either anovulatory and oligomenorrheic (AO) or ovulatory and eumenorrheic (EO).. Controlled clinical study.. General clinical research center at an academic medical center.. Three AO and four EO runners.. The athletes underwent 60 minutes of submaximal treadmill exercise on three separate occasions. Anovulatory and oligomenorrheic runners underwent exercise at baseline and after physiologic estrogen and combined estrogen and progesterone replacement. Ovulatory and eumenorrheic runners underwent exercise in the follicular and luteal phases and after GnRH agonist desensitization.. Serum cortisol, beta-endorphin, progesterone, estrogen, and gonadotropin levels at rest and during exercise.. Serum levels of E2 increased in response to exercise in both EO and AO runners during sex steroid replacement. Baseline peripheral beta-endorphin and cortisol levels were not different between the EO and AO groups. A significant increase in beta-endorphin levels in response to exercise occurred only in the EO group after GnRH agonist desensitization.. Alterations in menstrual cyclicity and ovulation in conditioned runners probably are not due to an increase in opioid tone. The hypothalamic-gonadotropic axis appears to be intact in AO runners, as measured by the gonadotropic response to exogenous exposure to estrogen and progesterone. Sex steroid administration had no effect on basal beta-endorphin levels, but this probably was not due to preexisting increased opioid tone.

Topics: Adult; Amenorrhea; Anovulation; beta-Endorphin; Estradiol; Estrogens; Exercise; Female; Follicle Stimulating Hormone; Gonadal Steroid Hormones; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Kinetics; Leuprolide; Menstrual Cycle; Progesterone; Rest; Running

This article summarizes the studies of the mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) in the regulation of the abnormal function of hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis (HPOA) in our laboratory. Clinical observation showed that EA with the effective acupoints could cure some anovulatory patients in a highly effective rate and the experimental results suggested that EA might regulate the dysfunction of HPOA in several ways, which means EA could influence some gene expression of brain, thereby, normalizing secretion of some hormones, such as GnRH, LH and E2. The effects of EA might possess a relative specificity on acupoints.

Topics: Adrenal Glands; Animals; Anovulation; beta-Endorphin; Brain; Corticosterone; Electroacupuncture; Epithelial Cells; Estradiol; Female; Gene Expression; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System; Infertility; Luteinizing Hormone; Ovariectomy; Ovary; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptors, Estrogen; RNA, Messenger; Sexual Maturation; Vagina

Thirteen cycles of anovulation menstruation in 11 cases were treated with Electro-Acupuncture (EA) ovulation induction. In 6 of these cycles which showed ovulation, the hand skin temperature (HST) of these patients was increased after EA treatment. In the other 7 cycles ovulation was not induced. There were no regular changes in HST of 5 normal subjects. The level of radioimmunoreactive beta-endorphin (r beta-E) fluctuated, and returned to the preacupunctural level in 30 min. after withdrawal of needles in normal subjects. After EA, the level of blood r beta-E in cycles with ovulation declined or maintained the range of normal subjects. But the level of blood r beta-E in cycles in which the induction failed to cause ovulation was kept higher that that of normal. (P less than 0.05). There was a negative correlation in the decrease of blood r beta-E and increase of HST after EA (r = 0.677, P less than 0.01). EA is able to regulate the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. Since a good response is usually accompanied with the increase of HST, monitoring HST may provide a rough but simple method for predicting the curative effect of EA. The role of r beta-E in the mechanism of EA ovulation induction was discussed.

Topics: Anovulation; beta-Endorphin; Body Temperature; Electroacupuncture; Female; Hand; Humans; Radioimmunoassay

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of menstrual cyclicity on plasma beta-endorphin (beta-EP) levels. For this purpose, beta-EP and cortisol plasma concentrations were measured during the menstrual cycle in healthy control subjects (n = 12), in patients affected by anovulatory syndrome (n = 6), and in amenorrheic patients (n = 8). In the same patients, beta-EP and cortisol were also measured under treatment for the induction of ovulation with pulsatile luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone or human menopausal gonadotropin plus human chorionic gonadotropin administration. In spontaneous and pharmacologically induced ovulatory cycles, a significant preovulatory rise of plasma beta-EP levels was always evident. Constant levels were found in the other periods of ovulatory cycles and in the patients affected by anovulatory syndrome and primary amenorrhea. Cortisol levels did not show any significant change throughout the cycle, either in controls or in patients before or after treatment. This result suggests that when ovulation occurs, plasma beta-EP levels show a relevant rise, the physiologic significance of which remains to be elucidated.

Topics: Adult; Amenorrhea; Anovulation; beta-Endorphin; Endorphins; Estradiol; Female; Follicle Stimulating Hormone; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Luteinizing Hormone; Menotropins; Menstrual Cycle; Ovulation Induction; Pituitary Hormone-Releasing Hormones; Prolactin

The objective of this study was to examine the mechanisms by which physical activity affects the menstrual cycle. Women with high, medium, and low levels of physical activity were compared for menstrual function, physical characteristics, and urinary and serum levels of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, prolactin, estradiol-17 beta, and 2-hydroxyestrone. None of the physical characteristics other than age and muscle area were significantly different in the three groups. The percentage of body fat did not appear to be a factor in the amenorrhea induced by strenuous exercise, as the percent of body fat in all three groups was less than 22%. The group of athletes under strenuous exercise which correlated with oligomenorrhea had decreased serum levels of luteinizing hormone, prolactin, and estradiol-17 beta but elevated levels of 2-hydroxyestrone. These data suggest that anovulatory cycles are correlated with the amount of exercise and increased levels of catechol estrogens. Catecholamines and beta-endorphin elevated by exercise may interact to suppress luteinizing hormone release at the hypothalamic pituitary axis.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Anovulation; beta-Endorphin; Catecholamines; Endorphins; Estradiol; Female; Follicle Stimulating Hormone; Humans; Hydroxyestrones; Luteinizing Hormone; Physical Exertion; Prolactin; Sports Medicine