Ubuka Takayoshi, Tsutsui Kazuyoshi
Laboratory of Integrative Brain Sciences, Department of Biology and Center for Medical Life Science Waseda University Shinjuku Japan.
Reprod Med Biol. 2019 Apr 17;18(3):225-233. doi: 10.1002/rmb2.12272. eCollection 2019 Jul.
Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) was discovered in the Japanese quail brain in 2000 as a hypothalamic neuropeptide that suppresses luteinizing hormone release from cultured quail anterior pituitary.
The authors investigated the existence of mammalian orthologous peptides to GnIH and their physiological functions in the following 19 years of research.
Mammals have orthologous peptide to GnIH, often described RFamide-related peptide, expressed in the hypothalamus and gonads. Mammalian GnIH may also suppress gonadotropin synthesis and release by suppressing gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) synthesis and release in addition to directly suppressing gonadotropin synthesis and release from the pituitary. Mammalian GnIH may also suppress kisspeptin, a stimulator of GnRH, release. Mammalian GnIH is also expressed in the testis and ovary and suppresses gametogenesis and sex steroid production acting in an autocrine/paracrine manner. Thus, mammalian GnIH may act at all levels of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis to suppress reproduction. GnIH may be involved in the regulation of puberty, estrous or menstrual cycle, seasonal reproduction, and stress responses.
Studies suggest that mammalian GnIH is an important neuroendocrine suppressor of reproduction in mammals.
促性腺激素抑制激素（GnIH）于2000年在日本鹌鹑脑中被发现，是一种下丘脑神经肽，可抑制培养的鹌鹑垂体前叶释放促黄体生成素。
在接下来的19年研究中，作者调查了哺乳动物中与GnIH直系同源的肽及其生理功能。
哺乳动物具有与GnIH直系同源的肽，通常称为RF酰胺相关肽，在下丘脑和性腺中表达。除了直接抑制垂体促性腺激素的合成和释放外，哺乳动物GnIH还可能通过抑制促性腺激素释放激素（GnRH）的合成和释放来抑制促性腺激素的合成和释放。哺乳动物GnIH还可能抑制GnRH刺激物亲吻素的释放。哺乳动物GnIH也在睾丸和卵巢中表达，并以自分泌/旁分泌方式抑制配子发生和性类固醇生成。因此，哺乳动物GnIH可能在下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴的各个水平发挥作用以抑制生殖。GnIH可能参与青春期、发情周期或月经周期、季节性繁殖和应激反应的调节。
研究表明，哺乳动物GnIH是哺乳动物生殖的重要神经内分泌抑制因子。
