Gonadotropins
Gonadotropins are often used for women who don’t ovulate due to problems with their pituitary gland. Menotropins acts directly on the ovaries to stimulate ovulation.
Gonadotropins (Gonadotrophin, Gn) are glycoprotein polypeptide hormones secreted by gonadotrope cells of the anterior pituitary of vertebrates. This family includes; the mammalian hormones, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and placental/chorionic gonadotropins, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG). These hormones are central to the complex endocrine system that regulates normal growth, sexual development, and the reproductive function. LH and FSH are secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, while hCG and eCG are secreted by the placenta in pregnant females and mares, respectively. The gonadotropins act on the gonads, controlling gamete and sex hormone production.
Gonadotropins are identical to human pituitary FSH, so injecting them into the body will lead to stimulation of ovarian follicle growth. The stimulation of multiple follicles (i.e. the creation of multiple eggs) is the primary way to enhance fertility. These medications come both in oral and injectable form. The injectable form is highly favoured over the oral form, as the oral form has less bio-availability and also carries toxic effects to the liver, this is because in the oral form, this medication has to pass through the liver before it can come available within the bloodstream, as the injectable form does not carry this toxic effect, as it does not have to pass through the liver to be able to become available within the blood stream.
There are various preparations of gonadotropins for therapeutic use, mainly as fertility medications; when the body does not produce enough FSH and LH (hormones needed for ovulation). These injected hormone medications encourage the ovaries to release more than one egg at a time. Like Clomiphene, it works only if your infertility is caused by failure of the ovary to release eggs.
Gonadotropin are also used to help with the ovulation process in the situation when the patient’s body did not respond to Clomiphene fertility treatment.
When consuming these gonadotropin medications, it is advised to keep a close eye and have regular ultrasounds to make sure that multiple eggs are not being fertilised at once. If this is the case, twins or triplets will be on the cards for the patient and if to many eggs are released, the chances of an ectopic pregnancy are also increased.
