Follicle-stimulating hormone is a glycoprotein gonadotropin released by gonadotrophs in the anterior pituitary. It supports ovarian follicle growth and acts on granulosa cells in the ovary and Sertoli cells in the testis. Its effects depend on target-cell receptors, not solely on the amount of circulating hormone.[ref]
Anatomy and Physiology 2e by J. Gordon Betts and others. §17.3, pituitary hormone summary and follicular growth
[ref]A 1997 experiment disrupted the gene encoding the hormone's FSH beta subunit, producing mice deficient in follicle-stimulating hormone. Female mice were infertile, with follicle development blocked before antral follicle formation. Males remained fertile despite smaller testes.[ref]
Follicle stimulating hormone is required for ovarian follicle maturation but not male fertility by T. R. Kumar and others. Abstract, targeted deficiency and contrasting reproductive outcomes
The contrast separates several outcomes that a single word like “fertility” can obscure. It demonstrates that loss of the same hormonal signal can affect ovarian development, testicular size and successful reproduction differently in this mouse model. Those endpoints must be measured separately rather than inferred from one another.
The FSH beta subunit is the hormone-specific protein subunit of follicle-stimulating hormone. The active hormone is a heterodimer: its beta chain associates with an alpha chain shared with related glycoprotein hormones, including luteinizing hormone and thyroid-stimulating hormone. The isolated beta chain and the assembled protein complex are therefore different experimental objects.[ref]
Follicle stimulating hormone is required for ovarian follicle maturation but not male fertility by T. R. Kumar and others. Abstract, common alpha chain, specific beta chains and heterodimer-dependent activity
A 1997 gene knockout experiment removed production of the FSH beta subunit in mice, producing deficiency of follicle-stimulating hormone. Females could not complete normal ovarian follicle development and were infertile; males retained fertility despite reduced testis size. The contrast shows how disrupting one component can test a proposed requirement for the assembled signal.[ref]
Follicle stimulating hormone is required for ovarian follicle maturation but not male fertility by T. R. Kumar and others. Abstract, targeted beta-subunit deficiency and sex-dependent outcomes
This result concerns a particular genetic perturbation and measured outcomes in mice. It does not imply that every function of follicle-stimulating hormone is dispensable in males, nor that a shared alpha chain makes these hormones interchangeable.
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