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what are functions of oestrogen and progesterone glands in females?
OESTROGEN is a powerful female sex hormone that regulates many aspects of our lives. Initially it makes girls develop into women at puberty by stimulating breast growth, laying down fatty deposits, thickening the vagina and causing it to secrete mucous. It affects how our skin looks, whether our bones are strong and healthy and it can protect us against heart disease. It also regulates our menstrual cycle. At the beginning of our cycle about 30 egg follicles will start to ripen and produce oestrogen. When levels of oestrogen in the blood are highest the hypothalamus in the brain release hormones that make a follicle release an egg, therefore if you are not producing enough oestrogen you will not ovulate. It is produced by the ovaries and naturally declines after the woman goes through the menopause.

PROGESTERONE is one of the female sex hormones produced by the ovaries and adrenal glands. It plays an important role in maintaining a pregnancy. As well as helping to sustain pregnancy it also regulates the monthly menstrual cycle. Its most important function is to encourage the endometrium to secrete proteins in the second half of the menstrual cycle in preparation for a fertilised egg. If no egg is fertilised or implanted then oestrogen and progesterone levels fall and the endometrium breaks down and is passed out through the body through your period bleed.


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