From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-565649-174992
BERKELEY, Calif. (UPI) -- Researchers at the University of California,
Berkeley, say they found how stress causes sexual dysfunction and
infertility.
Lead author Elizabeth Kirby, a graduate student, said scientists know
stress boosts levels of stress hormones -- glucocorticoids such as
cortisol -- that inhibit the body's main sex hormone, gonadotropin
releasing hormone. This subsequently suppresses sperm count, ovulation
and sexual activity.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, shows that stress also increases brain levels of
a reproductive hormone named gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone, or
gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone, discovered nine years ago in birds
and known to be present in humans and other mammals.
This small protein hormone, a so-called RFamide-related peptide, puts
the brakes on reproduction by directly inhibiting gonadotropin
releasing hormone, Kirby said.
"We know stress affects the top-tier reproductive hormone,
gonadotropin releasing hormone, but we show, in fact, that stress also
affects another high-level hormone, gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone,
to cause reproductive dysfunction," lead author Elizabeth Kirby, a
graduate student, said in a statement. "This work provides a new
target for researchers, a new way to think about infertility and
dysfunction."
If this reproductive hormone acts the same way in all mammals, the
finding could change the way physicians look at human reproductive
problems, the researchers said.