title: Metabolic control of female puberty: potential therapeutic targets.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The onset of puberty in females is highly sensitive to the nutritional status and the amount of energy reserves of the organism. This metabolic information is sensed and transmitted to hypothalamic GnRH neurons, considered to be ultimately responsible for triggering puberty through the coordinated action of different peripheral hormones, central neurotransmitters, and molecular mediators.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article will review and discuss (i) the relevant actions of the adipose hormone leptin, as a stimulatory/permissive signal, and the gut hormone ghrelin, as an inhibitory factor, in the metabolic control of female puberty; (ii) the crucial role of the hypothalamic kisspeptin neurons, recently emerged as essential gatekeepers of puberty, in transmitting this metabolic information to GnRH neurons; and (iii) the potential involvement of key cellular energy sensors, such as mTOR, as molecular mediators in this setting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The thorough characterization of the physiological roles of the above elements in the metabolic control of female puberty, along with the discovery of novel factors, pathways, and mechanisms involved, will promote our understanding of the complex networks connecting metabolism and puberty and, ultimately, will aid in the design of target-specific treatments for female pubertal disorders linked to conditions of metabolic stress.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology , University of Córdoba , Córdoba , Spain.|b CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición , Instituto de Salud Carlos III , Córdoba , Spain.|c Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC)/Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia , Córdoba , Spain.
authors.forename: Juan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Castellano
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology , University of Córdoba , Córdoba , Spain.|b CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición , Instituto de Salud Carlos III , Córdoba , Spain.|c Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC)/Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia , Córdoba , Spain.|d FiDiPro Program, Department of Physiology , University of Turku , Turku , Finland.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tena-Sempere
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D054439:Ghrelin / Q000378:metabolism; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism*; D020738:Leptin / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D011627:Puberty / Q000378:metabolism*; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D054439:Ghrelin; D020738:Leptin; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone
keywords: Kisspeptin; energy balance; ghrelin; leptin; mTOR; obesity; puberty