A link between menstrual pain and cardiovascular diseases: a finding that grew up into a discovery!

Laboratory of Dr. Michel A. Fortier !om Université Laval: Eva Bresson, Pierre Chapdelaine, Sofia Boucher Kovalik, Éric Madore and Nicolas Lacroix-Pépin

As reproductive endocrinologists studying uterine function at the cellular and molecular level in the context of fertility, recognition of pregnancy and menstrual disorders, it was important, for Dr. Fortier and his team, to identify the enzyme responsible for the release of prostaglandin PGF2α. This local blood vessel constrictor, hence acting to narrow blood vessels, is responsible for the ischemic response underlying uterine cramps afflicting the early menstrual period of many women and for luteolysis (degeneration of the corpus luteum of an unfertilized egg) in most mammals.