The writer of the following article can recall a time before the creation of ovulation test kits. At that time, a childless couple had only a very limited number of ways to encourage the union of the woman’s egg cell and the man’s sperm. Due to the absence of the ovulation test kits, some couples turned to friends for advice. The writer of the following article can recall a time when she overheard one of her co-workers speaking with a female PhD in a medical research lab. The researcher felt that a relaxed atmosphere aided conception. She suggested that the childless couple visit Hawaii.
The human body has two ways to send messages to the various organs and tissues. The nerves carry the most frequently repeated messages, and those messages that allow performance of a willful act. The hormones from the endocrine glands carry a second group of messages. Ovulation test kits measure the level of one particular hormone.
Ovulation test kits copy one function of the hypothalamus, a section of the brain. The hypothalamus keeps track of all the hormone levels in the body. One of those hormones, luteinizing hormone (LH), plays a vital role in the event known as ovulation. Ovulation test kits measure the amount of LH in a woman’s body.
Exactly how do ovulation test kits work? The woman’s menstrual cycle starts with the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and LH by the pituitary gland. When the female reproductive system receives the message sent by those two hormones, then an egg begins to develop in one of the woman’s ovaries. Eventually that growing egg is ready to be released into the fallopian tube.
The ovary does not permit such a release to take place until it gets the proper signal from the pituitary gland. The growing egg puts a third hormone, estrogen, in the woman’s bloodstream. The hypothalamus senses the presence of the estrogen, and it signals the pituitary gland. The pituitary calls for a surge in the production of LH.
When the ovary notes an increase in the level of LH in the blood, then the ovary permits the release of the mature egg cell. The sharp increase in the amount of LH coursing through a woman’s body causes ovulation to take place. That is why ovulation test kits measure the amount of LH in a woman’s body.
Forty years ago, medical doctors used the radioimmunoassay (RIA) to measure the LH level in the bloodstream of a female patient. Performance of an RIA requires the use of a large piece of equipment. At that time, women could not imagine a method for the in-home detection of evidence of ovulation. Yet that seeming impossibility became feasible in the mid 1970s. A pair of researchers discovered a way to make monoclonal antibodies.
Once medical science had a way to make monoclonal antibodies, medical researchers had a way to develop ovulation test kits. Researchers could design a device that could hold the antibody to LH. By attaching that antibody to the appropriate detection system, the researchers could provide a woman with a way to watch for evidence that ovulation had taken place.
Because an ovulation test kit can be used in the home, a woman and her husband can better coordinate their love making to coincide with the time of the woman’s ovulation. Ovulation test kits can help infertile couples to enjoy realization of the miracle that they most desire.