18- Stress and Fertility Flashcards
what is fertility?
capacity to reproduce (being pregnant and carrying to term)
what is infertility ?
12 months trying with no pregnancy
inability to carry to term
what are gonads ?
sex gland in which gametes are produced.
eg ovaries, testes
gonad production is regulated by which structures in the brain ?
the hypothalamus
what is the HPG axis
hypothalamus releases a releasing hormone that goes to anterior pituitary
ant pituitary releases LH and FSH
gonads released
what happens if luteinizing hormone is too high
premature menopause/ testicular failure
what happens if LH is too low
failure of gonadal function
what triggers ovulation ?
an LH surge
what triggers testosterone production ?
LH surge
what happens if FSH too high
premature menopause/testicular failure
what happens if FSH too low
failure of gonadal function
what does FSH do in females (2)
growth and recruitment of ovum
attachment of egg to uterine wall (pregnancy continuation)
what does FSH do in male
stimulate maturation of seminiferous tubules and spermatogenesis
how does stress affect reproductive function in male rats
stress condition: immobilized for 2 weeks 3 hours a day
glucocorticoid increase, increase in RFRP, associated with inhibited HPG activity, therefore decrease in reproductive function
what happens if rats are forced to swim for 3 min in water for 15 days in terms of fertility?
didn’t affect fertility but affected sperm production
explain the dose response relationship between stress and fertility
stress affects sexual behavior
longer stress will present a significant decrease in fertility rates
why are ejaculatory disorders a fertility issue ?
bc if you can’t ejaculate there is no sperm
why can shift work affect fertility
disrupted circadian rhythm
do women have less stress in months before they conceive
self-reports say yes
hormone assays say no
is sperm quality affected by major stressors ?
yes. the experience of two or more life events was associated with decreased sperm concentration, worse motility and morphology
what is the effect of therapy on male fertility
number of healthy sperm higher after therapy
what is the relationship between stress and infertility
bidirectional
why is infertility especially hard on women?
social pressures on women to have children
which kind of women suffer most from infertility stress ?
those whose roles are limited- housewives
compared to women with an intermediate level of stress, women with a high level of stress had a …% increased risk of stillbirth .
80
women with high stress did not have a higher risk of miscarriage due to stress alone. what was the other factor ?
drug use
