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Pathway Description
Progesterone Action Pathway
Homo sapiens
Drug Action Pathway
Progesterone is a hormone naturally occurring in females. This molecule is essential for endometrial receptivity, embryo implantation, and the successful establishment of pregnancy. It is used as an oral drug as a contraceptive to prevent ovulation and fertilization in certain formulations, as well as a promoter/supporter of pregnancy in other formulations. Pharmaceutical progesterone is made from a plant source as a starting material and is chemically identical to progesterone of human ovarian origin. Progesterone binds its receptor (located both on the membrane and in the cytosol) which activates a signaling pathway resulting in a lower release of GnRH by the hypothalamus. The lower concentration of GnRH results in the transcription of less LH and FSH hormones by the pituitary gland. The overall effect is that the ovaries can't release an egg (no ovulation) and the cervical mucus thicken to be unfavorable for sperm penetration. This drug is administered as an oral tablet/capsule for contraception and as a vaginal gel/insert to maintain the pregnancy.
References
Progesterone Pathway References
Wishart DS, Feunang YD, Guo AC, Lo EJ, Marcu A, Grant JR, Sajed T, Johnson D, Li C, Sayeeda Z, Assempour N, Iynkkaran I, Liu Y, Maciejewski A, Gale N, Wilson A, Chin L, Cummings R, Le D, Pon A, Knox C, Wilson M: DrugBank 5.0: a major update to the DrugBank database for 2018. Nucleic Acids Res. 2018 Jan 4;46(D1):D1074-D1082. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkx1037.
Pubmed: 29126136
Lopez LM, Ramesh S, Chen M, Edelman A, Otterness C, Trussell J, Helmerhorst FM: Progestin-only contraceptives: effects on weight. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Aug 28;2016(8):CD008815. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD008815.pub4.
Pubmed: 27567593
Khandelwal M: Vaginal progesterone in risk reduction of preterm birth in women with short cervix in the midtrimester of pregnancy. Int J Womens Health. 2012;4:481-90. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S28944. Epub 2012 Sep 14.
Pubmed: 23071418
Okada H, Tsuzuki T, Murata H: Decidualization of the human endometrium. Reprod Med Biol. 2018 Feb 1;17(3):220-227. doi: 10.1002/rmb2.12088. eCollection 2018 Jul.
Pubmed: 30013421
Pletzer B, Winkler-Crepaz K, Maria Hillerer K: Progesterone and contraceptive progestin actions on the brain: A systematic review of animal studies and comparison to human neuroimaging studies. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2023 Apr;69:101060. doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2023.101060. Epub 2023 Feb 8.
Pubmed: 36758768
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