Disease relevance of Follicular Phase

• Serum steroid, gonadotropin, and alpha-subunit levels were assessed in 35 women with cycle abnormalities [11 with and 24 without polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD) according to strict clinical and biochemical criteria] and 8 regularly cycling women in the early (cycle day 3 or 4) and mid (cycle day 7 or 8) follicular phase [1].
• Sixty-one women with PCOS defined by oligomenorrhea and hyperandrogenism and 24 normal women in the early follicular phase had LH samples obtained every 10 min for 8-12 h [2].
• There was greater bone resorption in the follicular phase of longer cycles than in that of shorter cycles, as measured by urinary deoxypyridinoline [3].
• NMRI mice (female female) were treated with 0.25 mg/kg body weight Trenimon (2,3,5-triethyleneiminobenzoquinone-1,4) in the preovulatory phase just before ovulation [4].
• Serum levels of free testosterone were significantly higher in the subjects with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) than in the controls in the luteal phase (p < 0.01), the follicular phase (p < 0.05), and around ovulation (p < 0.01) [5].

Psychiatry related information on Follicular Phase

• During the first week of estradiol treatment, depressive symptoms diminished significantly, resulting in a mean MADRS score of 11.0 (Z = -4.20, p < .001), and serum estradiol concentrations approached those of the follicular phase (mean +/- SD = 342 +/- 141 pmol/L) [6].
• DESIGN: Sixteen healthy women with normal menstrual cycles completed the California Verbal Learning Test, a digit span test, and a verbal fluency test in the follicular phase of a normal menstrual cycle and a second time after four monthly injections of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist [7].

High impact information on Follicular Phase

• We compared 16 normal women in the follicular phase, 5 normal men, 8 women with polycystic ovary syndrome, and 1 woman with polycystic ovary syndrome caused by a 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency [8].
• This study shows that SIV genital infection and disease course are enhanced by subcutaneous implants containing progesterone when compared with the rate of vaginal transmission in the follicular phase [9].
• Follicular phase was defined as day 1-14 from LMP [10].
• Plasma dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels were 7.0% higher in the follicular phase (P = .05) [11].
• In the follicular phase, the youngest parous women had an oestriol ratio 40% higher than, and significantly different from, the ratios of all other groups which were otherwise quite similar [12].

Chemical compound and disease context of Follicular Phase

• The finding of elevated serum estradiol and subnormal serum progesterone concentrations during the follicular phase is so far unique to women with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus [13].
• These data support the concept of continued P production from an active corpus luteum well into the follicular phase of the following cycle in women with endometriosis [14].
• The effects of follicular phase clomiphene citrate (CC) and two regimens of leuprolide acetate on estrogen-progesterone-induced hyperprolactinemia in nonhuman primates were studied [15].
• Inclusion criteria were age less than 39 years, body mass index less than 35 kg/m(2), failure to ovulate with 150 mg of clomiphene citrate for 5 days in the early follicular phase, more than 12 months of infertility and no other causes of infertility [16].
• CONCLUSIONS: Daily follicular-phase cocaine administration disrupts menstrual cyclicity and folliculogenesis independent of weight loss, caloric intake, and basal gonadotropin levels [17].

Biological context of Follicular Phase

• In the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta), the frequency of pulsatile gonadotropic hormone release is relatively constant in the face of widely varying levels of estradiol (E2) in the peripheral circulation--e.g., in the course of the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle and after ovariectomy [18].
• In actual fact, 20% of the tumors removed during the follicular phase scored HER2-positive, versus 8% of those removed during the luteal phase [19].
• Serum relaxin immunoactivity was found to be high over the period of menstruation, its concentration then decreased until the middle of the follicular phase when a peak equal in amplitude to the menstrual peak occurred [20].
• The aromatase activity was low during the follicular phase, but increased markedly with luteinization [21].
• Differential release of prolactin variants in postpartum and early follicular phase women [22].

Anatomical context of Follicular Phase

• During the first 2 days of the follicular phase (low circulating estrogen concentrations), nNOS expression in neutrophils was reduced with respect to that found in neutrophils obtained from the same donors during the ovulatory phase (high circulating estrogen concentrations) [23].
• Compared with normal human myometrium, leiomyomata had 3- to 5-fold higher levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma), retinoid X receptor alpha proteins, and all-trans retinoic acid, but only during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle [24].
• Here, we discuss recent approaches to ovarian stimulation, the induction of oocyte maturation, and effects of these altered follicular phase interventions on corpus luteum function following ovarian stimulation [25].
• INTERVENTIONS: Follicular fluid was aspirated from the follicles of women with PCOS (n = 14 follicles) and from women with regular cycles at various times during the follicular phase (n = 50 follicles) [26].
• With the exception of 17 beta-estradiol levels during the preovulatory phase of the cycle, peritoneal fluid levels of 17 beta-estradiol and progesterone were always equal to or higher than serum levels [27].

Associations of Follicular Phase with chemical compounds

• RESULTS: The mean plasma estradiol level was 30% lower in the follicular phase in women with depression than in their matched controls: 191 + 136 vs 261 + 169 pmol/L (52 + 37 vs 71 + 46 pg/mL) [28].
• RESULTS: There was a significant group x phase interaction with most of the finding explained by the reduction in cortical GABA levels during the follicular phase in those with PMDD compared with healthy controls [29].
• Serum Dpyr was higher during the follicular phase (FP) than in the luteal phase (p = 0.027) [30].
• Brief wake episodes modulate sleep-inhibited luteinizing hormone secretion in the early follicular phase [31].
• After baseline sampling during a 24-h control period in the early follicular phase (days 1-6), two TMTDS patches were applied with an expected delivery rate of 300 microg testosterone daily over an application period of 3-4 days [32].

Gene context of Follicular Phase

• Although greater absolute amounts of each species of IL-1 were secreted during the follicular phase, the ratio of agonist to antagonist secreted was greater in the luteal phase (p < 0.05), in agreement with previous studies of bioactivity [33].
• IGFBP-3 concentrations decreased in healthy follicles as the follicular phase progressed [34].
• In FF specimens obtained during the follicular phase, IGFBP-2 and the 28 kDa and 24 kDa species were present in 3-, 6-, and 19-fold higher amounts in atretic compared to healthy developing follicles, respectively, and were present in greater amounts in atretic FF than in serum [35].
• We studied the GH and PRL responses to GHRH1-44 (50 micrograms IV) and the effect of a naloxone infusion (1.6 mg/hr), started 1 hr before GHRH administration, on this response in 12 female patients with AN, aged 15-30 yr, and in seven normal women, aged 19-27 yr, during the follicular phase as controls [36].
• RESULTS: In the female patients, TSH, DHEAS, follicular-phase LH, and luteal-phase estradiol were significantly lower than in the control groups, with prolactin and SHBG significantly higher [37].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Follicular Phase

• Serum GH and estradiol levels were determined by immunoassay in eight women during the follicular phase of a spontaneous natural cycle (group I) [38].
• Although an enlarged ovary with one greater than or equal to 4-mm follicle was observed by laparoscopy during the late follicular phase in vehicle-treated monkeys, medium-to-large follicles were not visible on ovaries during chronic activin treatment or later at the expected midcycle interval in activin-treated monkeys [39].
• Normal women in the early follicular phase and in the luteal phase of the cycle, and patients with secondary amenorrhea received on consecutive days a rapid intravenous injection (50 mug) and a two or four-hour infusion (25 mug/h) of synthetic LH-FSH/RH [40].
• Medroxyprogesterone acetate (Provera) was administered orally during 2-4 days to women undergoing endometrial curettage during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle [41].
• There was good agreement between immunoassay and bioassay results on the day of the midcycle gonadotropin surge (FSH B/I = 1.07 +/- 0.14), which was not different from that in the follicular phase (days -17 to -2; FSH B/I = 1.06 +/- 0.05) or the FSH B/I measured in postmenopausal women (0.93 +/- 0.2) [42].

References