The aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling pathway and adverse reproductive outcomes
type: CreativeWork
description: Reproductive senescence or menopause in women occurs when a female’s reproductive capability is terminated naturally by aging of the body or terminated abnormally because of factors such as exposure to environmental chemicals. For millions of women, the menopausal transition is accompanied by various debilitating symptoms including hot flashes and sleep disturbances. These symptoms may persist even years after they have started, leading to disrupted normal daily functioning. Previous studies have reported that race/ethnicity, body mass index, smoking status, and low estradiol levels may increase the risk of experiencing these debilitating menopausal symptoms. However, these risk factors do not fully explain why women have hot flashes and sleep disturbances and why these symptoms vary between and within women. Therefore, the first goal of my dissertation work was to better understand the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) signaling pathway and the circadian locomotor output cycles kaput (CLOCK) gene in experiencing adverse reproductive outcomes during the transition into reproductive senescence. Specifically, I examined the associations between selected genetic polymorphisms in the AHR signaling pathway and menopausal hot flashes and I examined the associations between selected polymorphisms in the AHR signaling pathway, CLOCK, and sleep disturbances. To conduct this part of my doctoral work, I compared selected single nucleotide polymorphisms in the AHR signaling pathway and CLOCK, and sex steroid hormone levels in blood and serum samples from women (n=639) with and without hot flashes or sleep disturbances, enrolled in a midlife women’s health study. The results from my studies suggest that: 1) only CYP1B1 is associated with menopausal hot flashes via pathways that may involve changes in serum estradiol concentrations; and 2) AHRR and CLOCK may play roles in decreasing the risk of experiencing insomnia during the menopausal transition. Previous studies ind…
abstract: Reproductive senescence or menopause in women occurs when a female’s reproductive capability is terminated naturally by aging of the body or terminated abnormally because of factors such as exposure to environmental chemicals. For millions of women, the menopausal transition is accompanied by various debilitating symptoms including hot flashes and sleep disturbances. These symptoms may persist even years after they have started, leading to disrupted normal daily functioning. Previous studies have reported that race/ethnicity, body mass index, smoking status, and low estradiol levels may increase the risk of experiencing these debilitating menopausal symptoms. However, these risk factors do not fully explain why women have hot flashes and sleep disturbances and why these symptoms vary between and within women. Therefore, the first goal of my dissertation work was to better understand the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) signaling pathway and the circadian locomotor output cycles kaput (CLOCK) gene in experiencing adverse reproductive outcomes during the transition into reproductive senescence. Specifically, I examined the associations between selected genetic polymorphisms in the AHR signaling pathway and menopausal hot flashes and I examined the associations between selected polymorphisms in the AHR signaling pathway, CLOCK, and sleep disturbances. To conduct this part of my doctoral work, I compared selected single nucleotide polymorphisms in the AHR signaling pathway and CLOCK, and sex steroid hormone levels in blood and serum samples from women (n=639) with and without hot flashes or sleep disturbances, enrolled in a midlife women’s health study. The results from my studies suggest that: 1) only CYP1B1 is associated with menopausal hot flashes via pathways that may involve changes in serum estradiol concentrations; and 2) AHRR and CLOCK may play roles in decreasing the risk of experiencing insomnia during the menopausal transition. Previous studies ind…
author: Ziv-Gal, Ayelet
language: en
keywords: aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), hot flashes, sleep disturbances, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), bisphenol (BPA), ovary, toxicology
date published: 2013-08-22T16:42:04Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:36Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45493