Maturation of Sleep–Wake Gonadotrophin‐Releasing Hormone Secretion Across Puberty in Girls: Potential Mechanisms and Relevance to the Pathogenesis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Abstract

Neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying the progression of sleep-wake gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) pulse secretion across puberty have remained enigmatic. Here, the changes of sleep-wake luteinising hormone (LH) (and, by inference, GnRH) pulse secretion across puberty in normal girls are reviewed, primarily focusing on available human data. It is suggested that the primary control of GnRH pulse frequency changes across puberty, with sex steroid feedback exerting minimal control during childhood, but primary control during adulthood. A working model is proposed regarding how such a transfer of GnRH pulse frequency control may partly account for the prominent day-night differences of GnRH pulse frequency characteristic of puberty. How this model may be relevant to the genesis of abnormal GnRH secretion in peripubertal girls with hyperandrogenaemia is then described.