Clostridium innocuum, an opportunistic gut pathogen, inactivates host gut progesterone and arrests ovarian follicular development.

ABSTRACT: \Levels of progesterone, an endogenous female hormone, increase after ovulation; progesterone is crucial in the luteal phase to maintain successful pregnancy and prevent early miscarriage. Both endogenous and exogenous progesterone are recycled between the liver and gut; thus, the gut microbiota regulate host progesterone levels by inhibiting enterohepatic progesterone circulation. Our data indicated Clostridium innocuum as a major species involved in gut progesterone metabolism in women with infertility. C. innocuum converts progesterone into the neurosteroid epipregnanolone (with negligible progestogenic activity). We purified and characterized the corresponding enzyme, namely NADPH-dependent 5β-dihydroprogesterone reductase, which is highly oxygen sensitive and whose corre

SUBMITTER: Chen MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11545266 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature