Díaz López B, Debeljuk L
Departamento de Biología Funcional, Area Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Oviedo, C/Julián Clavería no. 6, 33006 Oviedo, Spain.
Reprod Fertil Dev. 2007;19(3):443-51. doi: 10.1071/rd06140.
The pineal gland, through its hormone melatonin, influences the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Tachykinins are bioactive peptides whose presence has been demonstrated in the pineal gland, hypothalamus, anterior pituitary gland and the gonads, in addition to other central and peripheral structures. Tachykinins have been demonstrated to influence the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, acting as paracrine factors at each of these levels. In the present review, we examine the available evidence supporting a role for melatonin in the regulation of reproductive functions, the possible role of tachykinins in pineal function and the possible interactions between melatonin and tachykinins in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Evidence is presented showing that melatonin, given to pregnant rats, influences the developmental pattern of tachykinins in the hypothalamus and the anterior pituitary gland of the offspring during postnatal life. In the gonads, the effects of melatonin on the tachykinin developmental pattern were rather modest. In particular, in the present review, we have included a summary of our own work performed in the past few years on the effect of melatonin on tachykinin levels in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis.
松果体通过其分泌的褪黑素影响下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴的功能。速激肽是一类生物活性肽，除了在其他中枢和外周结构中存在外，在松果体、下丘脑、垂体前叶和性腺中也已被证实存在。速激肽已被证明可影响下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴的功能，在这些水平上作为旁分泌因子发挥作用。在本综述中，我们研究了支持褪黑素在调节生殖功能中作用的现有证据、速激肽在松果体功能中的可能作用以及褪黑素与速激肽在下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴中可能的相互作用。有证据表明，给怀孕大鼠注射褪黑素会影响产后子代下丘脑和垂体前叶中速激肽的发育模式。在性腺中，褪黑素对速激肽发育模式的影响相对较小。特别是，在本综述中，我们总结了过去几年我们自己关于褪黑素对下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴中速激肽水平影响的研究工作。
