Journal
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Volume 15, Issue 2, Pages 69-78Publisher
INST ANIMAL REPRODUCTION FOOD RESEARCH
DOI: 10.1016/j.repbio.2015.04.001
Keywords
Hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis; Alcohol; Diet; Obesity; Diabetes
Categories
Funding
- NCN OPUS [2011/01/B/NZ4/04992]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The theory that individuals are born as tabula rasa and that their knowledge comes from experience and perception is no longer true. Studies suggest that experience is gained as early as in the mother's womb. Moreover, environmental stressors like alcohol or inadequate diet can affect physiological systems such as the hypothalmic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. The effects of these stressors can manifest as alterations in sexual development and adult reproductive functions. In this review, we consider and compare evidence from animal models and human studies demonstrating the role of environmental stressors (alcohol and under- or ovemutrition) on the HPG axis. We review the role of alcohol and inadequate diet in prenatal reproductive system programming and consider specific candidate neurons in the adult hypothalamus through which reproductive function is being regulated. Finally, we review evidence from animal studies on the role that alcohol and diet play in fertility and reproductive disorders. We conclude that in order to better understand reproductive failure in animals and humans we need to consider in utero development and pay more attention to early life experience when searching for the origins of reproductive diseases. (C) 2015 Society for Biology of Reproduction & the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn. Published by Elsevier Sp. zo.o. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available