What the elephant shark can tell us about progesterone

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and in Japan have used an ancient fish to reel in new insights about human biology and, in particular, how and why a widely used medication works to abort ...

Fish are being increasingly exposed to endocrine disrupters

Microplastics, owing to their chemical properties, can carry micropollutants into a fish's digestive system where they are subsequently released through the action of its gastric and intestinal fluids. EPFL scientists, working ...

Women with Neandertal gene give birth to more children

One in three women in Europe inherited the receptor for progesterone from Neandertals—a gene variant associated with increased fertility, fewer bleedings during early pregnancy and fewer miscarriages. This is according ...

A new way to assess male fertility

Current tests for male fertility include measuring the concentration and motility of spermatozoa. However, other characteristics of sperm, such as their ability to follow a chemical trail to the egg, can influence the likelihood ...

Hormone 'erases' male smell for female mice

Everyone knows that a plate of food doesn't look as delicious after you've already eaten a big meal. But imagine if your internal state actually made you blind to food.

Researchers solve mystery of long elephant pregnancy

(Phys.org) -- For years biologists have puzzled over how it is that elephants are able to maintain such long pregnancies, which typically run to nearly two years. While many theories have been tossed around, no one really ...

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Progesterone

Progesterone also known as P4 (pregn-4-ene-3,20-dione) is a C-21 steroid hormone involved in the female menstrual cycle, pregnancy (supports gestation) and embryogenesis of humans and other species. Progesterone belongs to a class of hormones called progestogens, and is the major naturally occurring human progestogen.

Progesterone is commonly manufactured from the yam family, Dioscorea. Dioscorea produces large amounts of a steroid called diosgenin, which can be converted into progesterone in the laboratory.

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