Introductory Chapter: Regulation of Ovarian-Menstrual Cycle as a Systemic Problem of Physiology of Humans

Abstract

One of the main manifestations of the vital activity of the female body is the menstrual cycle, which begins during puberty and has a rhythmic (monthly) character. Endocrine relationships in the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian system are formed throughout the period of puberty. This process is regulated by certain neuroendocrine processes, which have different activities depending on age. The determinants of this regulation are the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, gonads, thyroid gland, and adrenal cortex; therefore, a certain interest is the study of the peculiarities of the formation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian hormonal system. Back in the late nineteenth century, leading scholars D. O. Ott, S. S. Zikharev, and A. V. Reperov found that menstrual cycle is not a local process, but a wavelike reaction of the organism associated with changes in the system of the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovaries-uterus, which appears from the outside of uterine bleeding. These changes in vital processes in the body of women were called "menstrual wave" [1, 2]. So, the normal menstrual cycle is a finely coordinated cyclic process of stimulating and inhibiting effects that lead to the release of one mature egg. Various factors involved in the regulation of this process, including hormones, paracrine, and autocrine factors, are identified so far [3]. The regulation of the menstrual function passes through a complex neurohumoral path [4-6]. According to modern concepts [7-9], cyclic changes in the body of a woman are related to the implementation menstrual function and occur with the obligatory participation of five levels (or levels) of regulation. Each of them is regulated by the structures located above according to the mechanism of feedback.