Follicle stimulating hormone
Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland. It regulates the functions of both the ovaries and testes. Lack or insufficiency of it can cause infertility or subfertility in both women and men. In pharmaceutical preparation, it is called follitropin.
There are two types of preparation, either by human source (menopausal women’s urine) or by recombinant DNA origin (produced in genetically engineered Chinese hamster cell lines). Menopausal women’s urine contains higher content of gonadotropins hormones (FSH and LH – Luteinizing hormone). High technology purification and extraction processes has enabled the production of highly purified gonadotropins. The process includes eliminating every form of impurity and non-conforming molecules, leaving behind pure forms of FSH that can be injected subcutaneously or preferably, intra-muscularly.
FSH is one of the hormones essential to pubertal development and the function of women’s ovaries and men’s testes. In women, this hormone stimulates the growth of ovarian follicles in the ovary before the release of an egg from one follicle at ovulation. In men, FSH acts on the Sertoli cells of the testes to stimulate sperm production.
Follitropin (pharmaceutical preparation) is used in Controlled Ovarian Hyperstimulation (COS), a technique used in assisted reproduction to induce ovulation of multiple ovarian follicles. These multiple follicles can be taken out by egg collection for use in In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI).
