Follicle-stimulating hormone
Sertoli and follicular stimulation
Also searched as Sertoli and follicular stimulation.
The Pulse Pattern Carries the Information: LH Secretion is not Continuous but Pulsatile, with peaks every 90 to 120 minutes, Highest in the Morning Hours - and in Older Males These Bursts Decrease. Aging degrades the rhythm, not only the level.
In depth
Luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone — LH drives Leydig testosterone, FSH drives Sertoli spermatogenesis.
What drives it
Reproductive trigger increases it.
GnRH acts on the pituitary to secrete luteinizing hormone. PMC9113536
Testosterone reduces it.
Negative feedback - the arcuate nucleus is under negative control of testosterone and its metabolites. PMC9113536
Cellular aging reduces it.
In older males these bursts decrease - aging degrades the pulse, not only the level. PMC9113536
Prolactin reduces it.
Loss of GnRH pulsatility reduces pituitary LH and FSH secretion. doi 10.1210/clinem/dgac208 · PMID 3105612 · PMC5686678
What it drives
It increases Testosterone.
LH binds Leydig cell receptors, raising cAMP and driving StAR and CYP11A1 expression. PMC9113536
It increases Men's hormone balance.
The gonadotropin output is the proximate driver of male hormonal status. PMC9113536
It increases Male fertility.
FSH acts on Sertoli cells to drive spermatogenesis. PMC9113536
It increases Reproductive axis.
The pituitary arm of the axis. PMC9113536
It increases Female fertility.
The central finding is that reactive oxygen species ARE required, not merely harmful: ROS in the ovary regulate ovarian steroid hormone production, follicle synthesis, maturation, ovulation, and tubal function. ROS and antioxidant levels regulate the microenvironment of the follicular fluid, which determines which follicle becomes dominant. ROS can trigger ovulation in mature GRAAF follicles, and any change in this ROS level can disrupt ovulation. So an antioxidant claim here cuts both ways - the requirement is redox homeostasis, not suppression. Excess oxidative stress damages the oocyte through mitochondrial dysfunction, follicular atresia, meiotic errors, DNA damage and telomere shortening; too little disrupts the ovulatory trigger itself. Scale: infertility affects approximately 10-15 percent of couples, with nearly half the cases attributed to female reproductive dysfunction. doi 10.3390/antiox12081490 · PMID 40712896 · PMC10666387
It increases Temperature stability in menopause.
Drawn from reviews of neighboring outcomes rather than from studies of this outcome itself, which is weaker evidence, and the map marks it so. Sources: PMC10870088; PMC12685915. doi 10.1016/j.ajog.2006.06.078. · PMC10870088
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.