Regulatory functions for inhibin and activin in human ovaries

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Abstract
The classic endocrine function of ovarian inhibin is negative feedback control of pituitary FSH secretion (see de Jong, 1988 for a review). There is, however, a long-harboured suspicion that inhibin and related proteins such as activin could have local regulatory roles at or near their sites of formation in the gonads (e.g. Ying, 1988). Here, I survey recent developments in inhibin and activin research which support this likelihood, proposing paracrine functions for both proteins in the regulation of preovulatory follicular development and oestrogen synthesis in human ovaries. Inhibin, activin and related regulatory proteins Mature inhibin is a 32 kDa glycoprotein which has been isolated from ovarian follicular fluid as two distinct forms composed of a common α-subunit and one of two β-subunits, βA and βB (Ling, Ying, Ueno et al. 1985; Miyamoto, Hasegawa, Fukuda et al. 1985; Rivier, Spiess, McClintock et al. 1985; Robertson, Foulds, Leversha et al

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