CICLO MENSTRUAL

Copyright, Haimov-Kochman R, Berger I

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Most women (80%) experience regular menstrual cycle from menarche to

menopause, whereas the rest have irregular cycles (Mnster et al., 1992). Overall,
approximately 15% of reproductive age cycles are 28 days in length (Vollman, 1997)
divided into follicular and luteal phases. Significant changes in hormonal levels
occur during the menstrual cycle. At the early follicular phase levels of estrogen,
progesterone and testosterone are very low, while toward the mid-follicular days
blood levels of estrogen and testosterone begin to rise, reaching maximal levels a
little before ovulation (Griffin and Ojeda, 2004; Terner and De Wit, 2006). The rise in
estrogen level is accompanied by a drop in follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level.
Ovulation occurs 4044 h after a luteinizing hormone surge and a milder FSH surge.
The luteal phase is characterized by moderate estrogen and increasing progesterone
production by the corpus luteum. Estrogen decreases from moderate level at the
midluteal phase to its lowest level just before the onset of menstruation.
Progesterone levels rise after ovulation, peak approximately 7 days post ovulation
on and fall rapidly just before menstruation to undetected levels (Griffin and Ojeda,
2004; Terner and De Wit, 2006). Details are presented in Figure 1.

Copyright, Borgers AJ, Alkemade A, Van de Giessen EM, Drent ML, Booij J,
Bisschop PH, Fliers E
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Copyright, Elizondo-Vega R, Cortes-Campos C, Barahona MJ, Oyarce KA, Carril CA, GarcaRobles MA

The hypothalamus can be divided into three zones: (i) the periventricular zone formed by the
preoptic area (POA), suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), paraventricular nucleus (PVN), arcuate
nucleus (AN) and the posterior nucleus; (ii) the medial zone formed by the medial PON, anterior
hypothalamic nucleus (AHN), ventromedial nucleus (VMN), dorsomedial nucleus (DMN) and
premammillary nucleus and (iii) the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) formed by the lateral preoptic
nucleus, lateral hypothalamic nucleus, tuberomammillary nucleus and supraoptic nucleus (Fig.1A
and B) 26. The median eminence (ME) is located in the middle-basal hypothalamus and dorsal side
borders the infundibular recess of the third ventricle (III-V), making contact with the CSF. Its ventral
side borders the pars tuberalis of the pituitary, making contact with the perivascular space of the
portal capillary system and the subarachnoid CSF 27. The ependymal region of ME is formed by 2tanycytes with tight junctions that form a barrier between the ME and the ventricular CSF, known
as the CSF-ME barrier 2729. However, the blood vessels of the ME do not form a blood-brain
barrier (BBB); thus, the ME is a circumventricular organ, known to be windows to the brain. It has
been recently reported that the nutritional status of an individual modulates the permeability of ME
to circulation metabolic signals 30,31. Further studies are needed to show whether metabolic
signals are transferred directly from the blood to AN neurons or transferred from fenestrated
vessels to the processes of 2-tanycytes, and subsequently CSF to quickly generate an increase in
glucose concentration at the infundibular recess area proportional to that in blood (1-tanycytes in
contact with AN neurons).

Copyright, Sellix MT http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/