Gregory F. Erickson

TL;DR: The physiological importance of the BMP system for mammalian reproduction has been further highlighted by the elucidation of the aberrant reproductive phenotypes of animals with naturally occurring mutations or targeted deletions of certain BMP family genes.

TL;DR: A series of studies in the laboratory has provided important new information about the underlying controlling mechanisms governing ovarian androgen biosynthesis, including the development of a primary cell culture model in which the processes of androgen processes in the ovary are studied.

TL;DR: GCs are identified as the first target cells for bone morphogenetic protein-15, and BMP-15 is the first growth factor that can coordinate GC proliferation and differentiation in a way that reflects normal physiology.

TL;DR: Bone morphogenetic proteins have now been identified as molecules that differentially regulate FSH-dependent estradiol and progesterone production in a way that reflects steroidogenesis during the normal estrous cycle, and it can be hypothesized that BMPs might be the long-sought "luteinization inhibitor" in Graafian follicles during their growth and development.

TL;DR: Results indicate that GnRH, in addition to its well-known gonadotropin-releasing action in the pituitary, exerts a direct inhibition of ovarian steroidogenesis.