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involves neuroendocrine changes leading to maturation of the gonads, acceleration of growth in height, and development of secondary sexual characteristics. The kisspeptin peptides, produced by small groups of neurons in the hypothalamus, play a key role in
Division of Biomedical Information Analysis, Iwate Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Disaster Reconstruction Center, Iwate Medical University, Yahaba, Japan
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Faculty of Health Science, Bukkyo University, Kyoto, Japan
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neuroendocrine mechanisms are unknown. The kisspeptin-GPR54 system has been considered a central reproductive mechanism because the mutations of Gpr54 (a kisspeptin receptor gene) and Kiss1 (a kisspeptin gene) in human and rodent models cause puberty
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Introduction Kisspeptin is an upstream regulator of the reproductive axis (hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal, HPG axis) ( 1 ). Kisspeptin interacts with its receptor, KissR (G protein-coupled receptor 54, GPR54), resulting in the release of the
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. Major progress has been made in the understanding of the central mechanisms regulating reproductive activity with the finding that GnRH synthesis and release require the stimulatory action of kisspeptin (Kp, formerly known as metastin), a hypothalamic
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inhibitory and stimulatory factors upon the HPG axis in individuals ( 3 ). Over the last 10 years, kisspeptin has emerged as an important excitatory regulator in the initiation of puberty ( 4 ); in recent years, makorin ring finger protein 3 (MKRN3) has also
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Department of General Practice, Melbourne Medical School, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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nucleus and preoptic area the hypothalamus ( 10 ). These neurons are known as kisspeptin neurons and it is kisspeptin neurons in the arcuate nucleus (often referred to as KNDy neurons, as they contain the neuropeptides kisspeptin, neurokinin B and
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Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
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Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
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Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
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-stimulating puberty onset ( 35 ). Kisspeptins, released by hypothalamic kisspeptin neurons, have a stimulatory action on GnRH neurons and seem to be the gatekeepers of puberty onset ( 36 ). Recent studies demonstrated that childhood obesity causes EP onset by the
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release from pituitary ( 32 , 33 ). Kisspeptin is an upstream hypothalamic signal regulating GnRH release ( 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ). Kisspeptin is the product of Kiss1 gene and plays a central role in the timing of puberty and in mediating the modulatory
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Serviço de Endocrinologia, Departamento de Endocrinologia, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Al. Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal
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sexual maturation (186) . Kisspeptin is broadly recognised as a fundamental activator of the HPG axis, at the onset of puberty (187) . In rats, neonatal exposure to oestrogenic ED, such as BPA and genistein, suppresses kisspeptin synthesis (188, 189
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including neurons that release kisspeptin, neurokinin B and dynorphin (KNDy) that stimulate pituitary release of gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). This hormonal cascade results in gonadal maturation with
