Describe the roles of estrogens and progesterone

Question

What will be an ideal response

Answer 1

Estrogens secreted by ovarian follicles have several important functions:
• Estrogens promote the development and maintenance of female reproductive structures, secondary sex characteristics, and the breasts. The secondary sex characteristics include distribution of adipose tissue in the breasts, abdomen, mons pubis, and hips; voice pitch; a broad pelvis; and pattern of hair growth on the head and body.
• Estrogens increase protein anabolism, including the building of strong bones. In this regard, estrogens are synergistic with human growth hormone (hGH).
• Estrogens lower blood cholesterol level, which is probably the reason that women under age 50 have a much lower risk of coronary artery disease than do men of comparable age.
• Moderate levels of estrogens in the blood inhibit both the release of GnRH by the hypothalamus and secretion of LH and FSH by the anterior pituitary. Progesterone, secreted mainly by cells of the corpus luteum, cooperates with estrogens to prepare and maintain the endometrium for implantation of a fertilized ovum and to prepare the mammary glands for milk secretion. High levels of progesterone also inhibit secretion of GnRH and LH.