key words:  hormone, water-soluble, fat-soluble, steroid, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone
 

1. Hormones
1. chemical signals that move among tissues
1. tiny concentrations
2. specific targets: receptors
3. huge affects
2. three general types
1. not lipid (fat) soluble
1. small protiens, amino acid derivatives
2. short-term changes
3. receptors on membrane of target cell
4. secondary messengers
5. cascade effects
2. lipid soluble
1. steroids
2. long term, slow changes
3. receptors inside target cells
4. gene transcription regulated
5. cascade effects
2. Hormones and mammalian reproduction
1. Estradiol (female) and testosterone (male)
1. both steroids
2. both trigger changes in gene expresion
3. Hormones and female reproductive cycle
1. the menstrual cycle
1. day 0 is first day of uterine lining loss
2. two distinct phases:
1. follicular phase (egg maturation)
2. luteal phase (formation and degeneration of corpus luteum)
2. Human reproductive cycle involves 5 hormones
1. Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) from brain
2. Leutinizing hormone(LH) - pituitary
3. follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) - pituitary
4. estradiol (Es)- ovary
5. progesteron (Pro) - ovary
1. complex feedback loops: hormones regulate each other
4. environmental estrogens: feminzation

1.  What is an effective definition of hormone?

2.  Do all hormones initiate cascades in the target cells?  Justify your answer.

3.  Why is it an effective classification to separate lipid-soluble from lipid-insoluble hormones?  What differences and similarities are found in the pathways of action of these two groups?

4.  Why are the responses to steroid hormones long-term and relatively slow to develop compared to the responses to protein or amino acid-derived hormones?

5.Why do low-doses of estrogen and progesteron inhibit ovulation?

6. What about the human female menstrual cycle makes the so-called ìrhythmî method of contraception highly prone to errors?

7. What hormone is being detected in over-the counter and laboratory ovulation urine tests?

8. The presence what hormone(s) do over-the-counter and laboratory pregnancy tests check for?

9. The early birth control pill was a pure estrogen pill.  The estrogen pill prevented pregnancy because

(A) ovulation is inhibited by the corpus luteum, which is stimulated by estrogen.
(B) ovulation is stimulated by estrogen in high doses, and inhibited by estrogen in low, constant doses.
(C) ovulation is inhibited because low dosages of estrogen inhibit the formation of the uterine lining
(D) ovulation is stimulated by a peak of leutinizing hormone, LH, and LH production is inhibited by low concentrations of estrogen.
(E) ovulation is stimuated by the gonadotropi releasing hormone (GnRH) and GnRH production is inhibited by constant doses of estrogen.

10. When a female mammal becomes pregnant, the uterus lining is not lost and the ovaries cease developing more eggs.  This is because

(A) the corpus luteum is maintained by leutinizing hormone produced by the blastocyst (fertilized egg).
(B) the blastocyst (fertilized egg) produces gonadotropin releasing hormone, preventing loss of the uterine lining.
(C) the corpus luteum and the blastocyst (fertilized egg) produce progesteron and estrogen, preventing the loss of the uterine lining.
(C) the constant titers of progesteron and estrogen produced by  the corpus luteum and the blastocyst (fertilized egg) prevent the secretion of follicle stimulating hormone.

11. It is very common for women undergoing hormone treatment for infertility to have multiple fetus pregnancies, caused by multiple ovulation.  What hormone(s) are being used by the doctors?

(A) gonadotropin releasing hormone.
(B) human chorionic gonadotropin
(C) follicle stimulating hormone
(D) leutinizing hormone
(E) progesteron
(F) testosteron
(G) estrogen
 

see also:  page 868 "content review" #2, 6;  concept review #4, 5;  page 889 content review #2 (this is "last in first out"), #5;  concept review #3, 4