The Inhibin/Activin Family of Hormones and Growth Factors

Abstract

Inhibins and activins were initially recognized as gonadal protein hormones which modulate follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) production by the anterior pituitary gland. Since the recent chemical characterization of these proteins as hetero- and homodimers related to the TGF-b family, it has become clear that they are broadly distributed and have actions on multiple tissues where they may play a variety of types of roles as hormonal, paracrine and autocrine regulators of cellular function and proliferation.