ArticleBioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology2012
The evolution of menstruation: a new model for genetic assimilation: explaining molecular origins of maternal responses to fetal invasiveness.
Article in BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed.
- Endometrium-targeted mRNA-lipid nanoparticles for treating reproductive conditions.Nature nanotechnology · 2026Article
- In preprints: shedding light - chemogenetic induction of menstruation in mice.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Reframing the significance of menstruation: evolutionary insights from an organismal-relational perspective.History and philosophy of the life sciences · 2025Article
- Induction of menstruation in mice reveals the regulation of menstrual shedding.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Decoding functional and developmental trajectories of tissue-resident uterine dendritic cells through integrative omics.iScience · 2025Article
- Fibroblast growth factors and endometrial decidualization: models, mechanisms, and related pathologies.Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B · 2025Review
- Differences in gut microbiota composition, diversity, and predicted functional activity between wild and captive zoo Carollia perspicillata in a One Health perspective.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2025Article
- Murine modeling of menstruation identifies immune correlates of protection during Chlamydia muridarum challenge.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- The modeling of human implantation and early placentation: achievements and perspectives.Human reproduction update · 2025Review
- Establishment and characterization of endometrial organoids from different placental types.BMB reports · 2025Article
- Examination of the proposed relationships between cyclic menstruation and human reproduction.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Why current menstrual policies do not work.Nature human behaviour · 2024Article
- The Role of the Endometrium in Implantation: A Modern View.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Investigating Menstruation and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: Oxymoron or New Frontier? A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- The interactive effects of psychosocial stress and diet composition on health in primates.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Gut and reproductive tract microbiota: Insights into the pathogenesis of endometriosis (Review).Biomedical reports · 2023Review
- Human embryo implantation.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2023Review
- Endometrial Inflammation and Impaired Spontaneous Decidualization: Insights into the Pathogenesis of Adenomyosis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Archimetrosis: the evolution of a disease and its extant presentation : Pathogenesis and pathophysiology of archimetrosis (uterine adenomyosis and endometriosis).Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2023Article
- Decidual cells and decidualization in the carnivoran endotheliochorial placenta.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Review
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on byWhy menstruate?2012
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Why do humans menstruate while most mammals do not? Here, we present our answer to this long-debated question, arguing that (i) menstruation occurs as a mechanistic consequence of hormone-induced differentiation of the endometrium (referred to as spontaneous decidualization, or SD); (ii) SD evolved because of maternal-fetal conflict; and (iii) SD evolved by genetic assimilation of the decidualization reaction, which is induced by the fetus in non-menstruating species. The idea that menstruation occurs as a consequence of SD has been proposed in the past, but here we present a novel hypothesis on how SD evolved. We argue that decidualization became genetically stabilized in menstruating lineages, allowing females to prepare for pregnancy without any signal from the fetus. We present three models for the evolution of SD by genetic assimilation, based on recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms of endometrial differentiation and implantation. Testing these models will ultimately shed light on the evolutionary significance of menstruation, as well as on the etiology of human reproductive disorders like endometriosis and recurrent pregnancy loss.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.