What is the corpus luteum?

The female menstrual period can be divided into the safe menstrual period, ovulation period, and follicular period. Among them, most friends often talk about the safe menstrual period and ovulation period. So, what does the follicular period mean? What is the corpus luteum? When is the follicular period? What are the symptoms or manifestations of the follicular period? Friends who want to understand these questions, follow the editor to read on!

Progesterone is produced by the egg after ovulation and is rapidly converted into the highly vascular adenoid structure. After ovulation, the remaining egg wall collapses, and the connective tissue and capillaries of the egg membrane extend into the granulosa layer. Under the action of LH, it is transformed into a large cell mass with capillaries and endocrine function. It is light yellow when fresh and is also called corpus luteum.

The ovarian corpus luteum metabolizes luteal copper, which is a pure natural estrogen. In the body, it has a significant histological effect on the uterine wall stimulated by estrogen and is essential for maintaining pregnancy.

Insufficient estrogen metabolism before ovulation can cause the corpus luteum to be underdeveloped and shrink too early. When the corpus luteum is underdeveloped, the metabolism is poor, resulting in insufficient progesterone secretion. The clinical symptoms are regular menstrual cycles, but the cycle duration is shortened or there is bleeding a few days before menstruation, and there may be no change in menstrual volume.

When is the follicular phase?

The follicular phase refers to the period from ovulation to the day before menarche. The follicular phase generally lasts 14 days. If the menstrual cycle is 28 days, then the follicular phase is the 15th to 28th day of the menstrual cycle.

Hormonal regulation during the follicular phase

1. After a girl ovulates, both LH (luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) drop sharply. Under the action of a small amount of LH and FSH, luteinizing hormone is produced and gradually grows and develops. Progesterone mainly metabolizes estrogen and estradiol, which causes metabolic changes in the uterine wall.

2. On the 7th to 8th day after ovulation, estrogen reaches its peak and female hormones also reach another peak. Due to the negative feedback effect of large amounts of estrogen, estrogen and inhibitor A, the secretion of pituitary LH and FSH decreases relatively, the corpus luteum begins to shrink, the secretion of estrogen and estrogen decreases, the uterine wall loses the support of estrogen, shedding occurs and menstruation begins.

3. The decrease of female hormones, estrogen and inhibin A eliminates the negative feedback inhibition on the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, FSH secretion increases, and the egg begins to grow and develop, so the next menstrual cycle starts from scratch.

The above is the basic knowledge about the follicular phase that I want to introduce to you. In addition, I would like to remind you that if low progesterone occurs during the follicular phase, you can eat more beans, vegetables and fruits in your daily diet.