Targeting the gonadotropin-releasing signal transduction cascade novel approaches to regulating reproduction and obesity

我们知道营养和生殖密切相关，例如营养不足导致不孕，更年期导致体重增加，但我们不知道这些事件发生的确切机制。刺激生殖途径的脑激素促性腺激素释放激素（GnRH）和最近发现的刺激进食的激素家族（食欲素）都通过相同类型的识别位点起作用，即G蛋白偶联受体（GPCR），它们分布在大脑内。确定这两种途径如何相互作用，对于治疗体重和/或生殖疾病具有巨大的潜力，因为GPCR结构及其信号途径有助于治疗干预。

We know that nutrition and reproduction are closely linked e.g. undernutrition leads to infertility, menopause to weight gain, but we do not know precisely the mechanisms whereby these events occur. The brain hormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which stimulates the reproductive pathways and a recently discovered family of hormones (orexins) which stimulate feeding both act through the same type of recognition site i.e. G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) which are distributed in close proximity within the brain. Identifying how these two pathways interact has enormous potential for the treatment of disorders of weight and-or reproduction since the GPCR structure and the route by which it signals lends itself to therapeutic intervention.