PSY 3391 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Corpus Luteum, Follicular Phase, Endometrium

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 3391
• Professor: Nafissa Ismail

Document Summary

Broken into follicular (follicle grows, e2 increases) and luteal phases (corpus luteum; high p) Ovulation and peak estrogen concentration coincide in both rats and primates. Unlike rats, humans do not display a preovulatory progesterone peak. Progesterone builds up the walls of the uterus for potential pregnancy. Occurs during each cycle, about once a month in humans. Menstrual bleeding occurs when blood concentrations of estrogens and progesterone are basal. The endometrial layer of the uterus, no longer supported by the sex steroid hormones, is shed, and the blood vessels that remain leak blood into the uterine lumen. Dogs and some other mammals discharge blood from the vagina prior to estrus, but this discharge is fundamentally di erent from menstrual bleeding results from estrogen-induced stimulation of the uterine wall. When all the hormones come down, theres nothing left to support the endometrium and blood is discharged from the uterus.