Mechanistic model of hormonal contraception
Fig 2
The model diagram shows all states broken into two sub-models. The hypothalamus/pituitary model has four states (RPFSH,FSH,RPLH, LH) and the ovarian model has nine states (RcF, GrF, DomF, Sc1, Sc2, Lut1-4). In the hypothalamus/pituitary model, the black horizontal arrows represent hormone (E2, Papp) movement and in the ovarian model they represent movement of cells or tissue (mediated by LH) between stages. The red horizontal arrows represent output from a sub-model, and the green horizontal arrows represent input into a sub-model. A hormone H written as H+ or H− has a stimulating or inhibiting effect respectively on movement between chambers or effectiveness of a hormone within the chamber. The blue dashed-dotted lines within the ovarian model show stages contributing to ovarian hormone production in the auxiliary equations. The gray dashed lines in the ovarian model represent autocrine influence of ovarian hormones within the model. Full expression for the hypothalamus/pituitary and ovarian models can be found in Eqs (1)–(4) and Eqs (5)–(13), respectively, and parameter values and dimensions are listed in Table 1.