부산대학교 도서관

This work focuses on the construction of a mathematical model todescribe the interactions of hormones that are involved in regulatingthe human menstrual cycle. The aim is to develop a relatively simplemodelling framework, incorporating the key biological processes, thatexhibits stable periodic solutions that are characteristic of themenstrual cycle and can be used to investigate processes that perturbthe cycle. The basic model that describes the evolution of fivedominant hormones and three ovarian stages is extended to encompassreceptor down-regulation as a mechanism to describe the desensitizationof the pituitary to continuous stimulation of hypothalamic hormone. Thesimplicity of the model is largely due to the quasi-steady assumptionsfor the dominant hormones. The resulting numerical simulations ofhormone profiles are comparable with the experimental data, and themodelling results are in good qualitative agreement with physiologicalobservations and reproduce many of the important features andcharacteristics of the human menstrual cycle. The mathematical modelframework is notably simpler than the existing models and can be usedas a basis to model the growth and development of myomas. Themathematical modelling approach could make significant headway in thebiological understanding of the human menstrual cycle.