“…It is well recognized that a negative energy balance may lead to delayed puberty onset or its lack and, consequently, to reproductive disorders (Schwartz, 2000). Nevertheless, the mechanisms that link reproductive processes and body energy reserves have not been fully explored; it is known, however, that endocrine signals governing energy homeostasis, such as NPY, leptin and orexins, are also involved in the control of reproductive function by acting at different levels of the HPG axis (Wańkowska et al, 2002;Barreiro et al, 2004;Wójcik-Gładysz et al, 2009). It has been suggested that ghrelin is involved in the regulation of reproductive function (reviewed in Lorenzi et al, 2009) based on the systemic effects it exerts at both at the hypothalamus and pituitary (Fernández-Fernández et al, 2004;Angelidis et al, 2013) and gonadal levels (Miller et al, 2005;Harrison et al, 2008).…”