Ovarian hormone regulation by extracellular matrix

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Sex steroid hormones (e.g. oestrogen and testosterone), are important to male and female health. In the ovarian follicle I identified a novel form of extracellular matrix (focimatrix) which develops in the ovary before the synthetic enzymes needed for sex steroids are present. Using evidence from other tissues, I developed ideas on how this matrix regulates the enzymes for hormone synthesis. I will examine a mechanism by which focimatrix could directly affect steroid hormone production.