The relationship between circulating kisspeptin and sexual hormones levels in healthy females

The kisspeptin (metastin) is an endogenous peptide, which regulates human reproduction by modulating gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion. Kisspeptin was detected in peripheral blood, although GnRH was not. Previously, we measured plasma kisspeptin levels in male healthy subjects and patients with hypogonadism using enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to elucidate a normal range in healthy males and clinical implications of kisspeptin in male hypogonadism. We suggested that the plasma kisspeptin levels were received feedback from testosterone. In this study, we focused female subjects and elucidated the relationship between menstrual cycle and plasma kisspeptin levels to understand kisspeptin-hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. We measured plasma kisspeptin levels in eight female volunteers. The plasma kisspeptin levels in female are significantly higher than those in male. There are no significant correlation between plasma kisspeptin levels and sexual hormones. We revealed that the kisspeptin might stimulate a start of menstruation as a trigger, and progress menstruation covered for weakened ovarian function. We suggest that kisspeptin may be closely related with menstrual cycle and that the measurement of plasma kisspeptin levels is useful for understanding of reproductive system.