부산대학교 도서관

This work focuses on the construction of a mathematical model to describe the interactions of hormones that are involved in regulating the human menstrual cycle. The aim is to develop a relatively simple modelling framework, incorporating the key biological processes, that exhibits stable periodic solutions that are characteristic of the menstrual cycle and can be used to investigate processes that perturb the cycle. The basic model that describes the evolution of five dominant hormones and three ovarian stages is extended to encompass receptor down-regulation as a mechanism to describe the desensitization of the pituitary to continuous stimulation of hypothalamic hormone. The simplicity of the model is largely due to the quasi-steady assumptions for the dominant hormones. The resulting numerical simulations of hormone profiles are comparable with the experimental data, and the modelling results are in good qualitative agreement with physiological observations and reproduce many of the important features and characteristics of the human menstrual cycle. The mathematical model framework is notably simpler than the existing models and can be used as a basis to model the growth and development of myomas. The mathematical modelling approach could make significant headway in the biological understanding of the human menstrual cycle.