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Fig. 9 | Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

Fig. 9

From: Obesity induces morphological and functional changes in female reproductive system through increases in NF-κB and MAPK signaling in mice

Fig. 9

Schematic model showing the signaling pathways mediating structural and functional changes in the female reproductive system in obese mice. In obese females, their reproductive system became lipid droplet laden and secretes excessive pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-α. These heightened secretions damage the morphological structures and directly disrupt normal biological functions of the reproductive organs. It is presumed that either IL-6 or TNF-α directly induce increases in JNK, ERK/12 and p38 signaling and NF-kB stem or these pro-inflammatory cytokines induce these effects through cognate receptor activation. In any case, these pro-inflammatory cytokines can activate NF-kB-linked signaling pathway, which aggravates the adverse inflammatory status, whereas activation of the MAPKs signaling pathway augments adipogenesis, which finally leads to hypertrophy and hyperplasia of adipocytes in the female reproductive system

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