ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

Brief summary: This literature review summarized the recent advances in our understanding of the GnRH system throughout life and its implication in the brain development beyond its conventional role in reproductive control.During embryonic development GnRH neurons migrate from the olfactory placode to the hypothalamus, where they control the hypothalamus–pituitary–gonadal axis (1,2). But many GnRH neurons migrate to other brain regions, such as...

To read the full abstract: Endocr Rev 2018;39:3,333This review is interesting for several reasons. It focuses on a specific type of cells lining the wall of the third ventricle in the median eminence of the hypothalamus. This region acts both as a secretor of neuropeptides and as a sensor of the metabolic status of the periphery. These two functions imply a bidirectional physiological pathway: br...

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022 Mar 16;13:869019. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.869019. PMID: 35370973. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8966543/Brief Summary: This mouse study explores the function of alpha-tanycytes, which are neurogenic stem cells located in the medio-basal hypothalamus and expres...

To read the full abstract: Nat Commun 2018;9.400Pheromones play a crucial role to identify potential mates and sexual motivation in mice. These molecules are detected by a specialized circuit which initiates in the nasal septum and then relies on GnRH neurons in the hypothalamus in a sex-dependent manner. Female pheromones induce LH/testosterone release in male mice whereas male pheromones i...

Nat Neurosci. 2021 Dec;24(12):1660-1672. doi: 10.1038/s41593-021-00960-z. Epub 2021 Nov 18. PMID: 34795451. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-021-00960-zBrief Summary: This neuroanatomical and physiological study in mice demonstrates that GnRH neurons attract glial cells in their vicinity via cell–cell communication...

Elife. 2021 Jun 15;10:e67714. doi: 10.7554/eLife.67714. PMID: 34128468https://elifesciences.org/articles/67714Brief Summary: This histological and transcriptomic study evaluates the presence and the potential role of extra-hypothalamic GnRH neurons in humans and identifies cholinergic GnRH-synthesizing cells in the human basal...

To read the full abstract: PLoS biology vol. 17,11 e3000532. 7 Nov. 2019. doi: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000532This study unravels the role of the miR-30/Mkrn3 pathway in the hypothalamic regulation of puberty Puberty onset is triggered by a hypothalamic network of interconnected...

To read the full abstract: EMBO Mol Med. 2017 Oct;9(10):1379-1397[Comments on 7.10 and 7.11] During embryonic development, GnRH neurons originate in the olfactory placode and migrate through the nasal mesenchyme using the olfactory/vomeronasal axons as a scaffold to reach their final destination in the basal forebrain1,2. Th...

Brief summary: A newly developed mouse model of congenital ablation of Dicer in kisspeptin neurons was used to identify a role for miRNAs in kisspeptin neuron activity and control of reproduction.The last few years have seen a shift in paradigm with the discovery of epigenetic mechanisms regulating GnRH neuron activity and thus puberty and reproduction. In particular, miRNAs appear to play a crucial role in the maturation and function of the hypothalamic...

Brief summary: This study identified a new role for GnRH in higher brain function using a rodent model of Down Syndrome. It reports for the first time an improvement of cognitive functions in patients with Down Syndrome treated with pulsatile GnRH.GnRH neurons are classically described as a population of neurons located in the hypothalamus and responsible for the activation and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. However, the recent de...