Navdeep Grewal

Investigation 10.7.1 - Hormone Levels during the Ovarian and

Menstrual Cycles

Analyze and Evaluate:

a. The gonadotropic hormones are follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and
Luteinizing hormone (LH). Letter X represents FSH and letter Z represents LH.

b. The ovarian hormones are estrogen and progesterone. Letter W represents

estrogen and letter Y represents progesterone.

c. Estrogen is responsible for producing a negative feedback loop and inhibits FSH
secretion, when estrogen levels are low. When estrogen levels are high, it
creates a positive feedback loop on the pituitary and hypothalamus.
Progesterone has a negative feedback loop effect on the hypothalamus and the
pituitary gland, as it inhibits the secretion of FSH and LH.

d. I labeled my horizontal axis “Days” because of time is always the independent

variable. I labeled my vertical axis “temperature” because temperature depends
on time. I distinguished between the two situations by colour coding the women
who ovulated with red and the women who did not ovulate with blue.

e. Ovulation occurred at day 14, assuming the data graphed represents a typical
28-day menstrual cycle. I know this because in a normal 28-day cycle, ovulation
typically occurs 14 days into the cycle. By this point, the LH bursts in secretion,
allowing the follicle cells to release an egg; ovulation occurs! Also, we see an
increase in body temperature on day 14, meaning progesterone levels are high
and we are going to have an active corpus luteum.

f. The body temperature before ovulation occurred was at a moderate level. The
temperature rose and peaked at the highest when ovulation occurred on day 14.
After that, the temperature decreased and returned to the normal temperature for
the next cycle. Due to the progesterone levels, the temperature was lower before
ovulation and higher after this occurrence.

g. Between the 2 women, the woman who ovulated during the cycle had a body
temperature increase compared to the woman who did not ovulate. On the
graph, it is evident that on day 14, the woman who ovulated had a big increase in
body temperature as it spikes up to 38.4 from 36 degrees Celsius. This is
because her body is creating more progesterone which is what causes the basal
body temperature to rise. This woman will have an active corpus luteum, so
 Navdeep Grewal

normally, the basal body temperature for one will rise a day after they ovulate,
which is evident in the data. For the woman who did not ovulate, her
progesterone levels do not see an increase, which means she does not have an
active corpus luteum. This makes sense because she did not ovulate. Although
her body temperature does increase and decrease throughout the 28 days, it
does not sharply increase like the first woman.

h. At the time labelled X, ovulation is occurring. At the time labelled Z, the new
menstrual follicular phase is starting where FSH and LH are no longer being
inhibited by progesterone and inhibin, so they create a new follicle. At this point,
menstruation is now occurring.

i. The follicle cells produce estrogen at point W on the graph. This is when
ovulation is occurring.

j. The corpus luteum is producing estrogen and progesterone at point Y on the

graph. This is during the middle of the luteal phase in the cycle.

k. There is evidence that as the levels of estrogen rise, it causes a peak in

production of LH and FSH. This is because a high estrogen level has a positive
feedback loop effect on hypothalamus and pituitary, which in turn, stimulates the
secretion of GnRH and that releases LH and FSH. So, then LH increases, the
estrogen levels will also increase!

l. In figure 3, the hormone LH would be good enough for an ovulation test. This is
because at day 14, ovulation usually occurs. At day 14, the LH production
dramatically increases which will allow the over-the-counter test to detect
ovulation.

m. When examining Table 1, the graph I made and Figure 3, the hormone estrogen
tracks most closely with body temperature of the ovulated woman. This is
because the shape of my graph for the ovulating woman matches with the
estrogen levels produced over the cycle.

Apply and Extend:

n. Since one egg allows for an active corpus luteum to be made, it is possible for a
woman to have 2 corpus lutea in her ovaries who has given birth to triplets. The
exception to this is that two babies will be identical and the 3rd one will not. This
could happen because maybe the women ovulated 2 eggs at once. If this
 Navdeep Grewal

happened, then both eggs were fertilized. One of the eggs may have split,
creating two identical babies and the other egg created a baby normally.

o. Some health problems associated with lower estrogen levels in women can be
very bad for their bodies. For example, estrogen helps with keeping cholesterol in
control. If estrogen levels are low, cholesterol levels can increase which means
one could have an increase in fat in the blood vessels. If this fat grows too much,
it can cause the blood to flow irregularly through the vessels, especially the
arteries. This can cause an increased risk to a stroke or heart attack or other
heart diseases. Another health problem that comes with low estrogen levels is
the weakening of the bones. Estrogen helps with allowing more calcium
absorption and doesn’t let bone reabsorption happen. So if estrogen isn’t doing
these functions because there’s not enough, it can lead to weak bones or
osteoporosis.
Some lifestyle factors that contribute to these health problems would be not
having a good diet (not enough calcium intake to help with bones or having high
cholesterol foods) or not exercising enough (allows the fat to store up in the
blood vessels).
Some treatments for these health problems would be to maybe have estrogen
therapy such as taking estrogen pills or having an estrogen patch. These
different forms of estrogen help with increasing the levels of estrogen in your
body. You can also take estrogen through a vaginal cream or vaginal tablets.
Estrogen therapy is mostly for women undergoing menopause. Another
treatment could be changing different lifestyle habits, such as increasing exercise
and changing your diet to include more healthier options.

p. Although many health companies believe that steroids given to cattle do not pose
a threat to humans, I believe it still does affect humans in some way. For
example, some long term effects of synthetic hormones can lead to irregular
reproductive cycles, impact growth in children, baldness, and changes in the
endocrine system.