- Gonadotropin
- Hormones that are secreted by the pituitary gland, and that affect the function of the male or female gonads. See follicle-stimulating hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin.
* * *1. A hormone capable of promoting gonadal growth and function; such effects, as exerted by a single hormone, usually are limited to discrete functions or histologic components of a gonad, such as stimulation of follicular growth or of androgen formation; most gonadotropins exert their effects in both sexes, although the effect of a given g. will differ in males and females. 2. Any hormone that stimulates gonadal function. 3. Any substance that has the combined effects of follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. SYN: gonadotrophin, gonadotropic hormone.- anterior pituitary g. any g. of hypophysial origin; formerly used to designate a single hormone, because it was thought that the anterior hypophysis secreted only one g.. SYN: pituitary gonadotropic hormone.- chorionic g. (CG) a glycoprotein with a carbohydrate fraction composed of d-galactose and hexosamine, extracted from the urine of pregnant women and produced by the placental trophoblastic cells; its most important role appears to be stimulation, during the first trimester, of ovarian secretion of the estrogen and progesterone required for the integrity of conceptus; it appears to play no significant role in the last two trimesters of pregnancy, as the estrogen and progesterone are then formed by the placenta. SYN: β-HCG, choriogonadotropin, chorionic gonadotropic hormone, chorionic gonadotrophic hormone, placenta g., placentagonadotropin.- β-human chorionic g. a 145-amino acid subunit unique to HCG, which has the same α-chain as FSH, LH, and TSH. Pregnancy tests specific for β-HCG are more sensitive since there is no confusion with other gonadotropins secreted by the pituitary.- human menopausal g. (HMG, hMG) a hormone of pituitary originally obtained from the urine of postmenopausal women now produced synthetically; used to induce ovulation. SEE ALSO: menotropins.
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go·nad·o·tro·pin -'trō-pən also go·nad·o·tro·phin -fən n a gonadotropic hormone (as follicle-stimulating hormone) see human chorionic gonadotropin* * *
go·nado·tro·pin (go″nə-do-troґpin) any hormone that stimulates the gonads, especially follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. See also chorionic g. Called also gonadotropic hormone.
Medical dictionary. 2011.
