Cellular Metabolism in the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal Axis

Just as we need particular foods to fuel our activities, different cell types use particular nutrients to fuel their function. Gonadotropes, the cell type in the pituitary that secretes reproductive hormones, relies on glucose metabolism. The Nicholas lab is genetically deleting genes needed for gonadotropes to take up glucose to explore the impact of this metabolic pathway on reproduction. Our long-term goal is to understand how over and under nutrition impede female fertility in the context of health and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).