The corpus luteum plays an important role in early pregnancy by, among other things, secreting progesterone – an essential hormone needed for normal pregnancy development. Scientists from the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IRZiBŻ PAN) in Olsztyn have discovered its new feature.
The researchers discovered that this gland also secretes a protein called prokineticin 1. This increases the viability and stimulates the function of the corpus luteum, and thus has a beneficial effect on the development of early pregnancy.
‘We hope that in the future, on the basis of the results of these studies, it will be possible to develop therapies that will support the development of normal pregnancy in humans’, said Dr Agnieszka Wacławik, Professor of the Polish Academy of Sciences from the Department of Mechanisms of Hormone Action of the IRZiBŻ PAN in Olsztyn, who directs the work of the team.
The results of her team’s research have just been published in “Scientific Reports”, a journal published under the auspices of “Nature”.
