In a healthy woman, human chorionic gonadotropin appears after the fertilized egg is fixed in the uterine cavity. This means that conception has occurred and pregnancy begins to develop. The first days (5-7) after fertilization, the egg moves through the tubes of the uterus; there is no chorion (the membrane of the embryo) yet, which means its hormone is absent. HCG is produced as the fetus grows and is responsible for the following processes:
• Suppresses menstruation.
• Helps produce hormones (estrogens, progesterone) that are needed to rebuild a woman’s body.
• Affects the adrenal cortex, and it begins to intensively produce cortisol, which inhibits the immune system. This is important so that the mother’s body does not reject a fetus that is foreign to it.
• Stimulates the growth and development of the placenta, improves its blood supply.
• Provides the formation of male hormones in the fetus, activates its adrenal glands and gonads.
Outside of pregnancy, childbirth and abortion in women and in the body of men, hCG should not be present or trace amounts are detected due to the similarity of its molecules with some pituitary hormones. If its value exceeds the permissible norm, then this is a sign of a tumor process of the testicles and ovaries and requires additional examination of the patient.
One of the reasons for the physiological (outside of illness) detection of hCG is the introduction of its drugs to stimulate puberty, in programs for the treatment of infertility. Bodybuilders use hCG during courses of steroids (anabolic steroids) to prevent impotence and impaired sperm production.