Prof. Pilar Vigil

Fertility is a transient biological state that depends on the fertility potential of the couple. During a women’s lifetime, the ovary will go through different states of hormonal secretion and ovulation. The concept of the ovarian cycle as a continuum considers that all types of ovarian activity encountered during the reproductive life are normal responses to different environmental conditions in order to ensure the health of the mother and child.

The life of a new organism of the human species starts at the moment of fertilization. This is when the sperm and oocyte plasma membranes fuse. The ovarian continuum begins at fertilization, when the zygote starts its development.

Until now, a biological dogma has been that all sex differences in the brain arise from differences in the gonadal secretions. It has recently been demonstrated that the whole genome of males and females seems to be different; not only are the sexual chromosomes different, but also autosomes have a major role in sexual differentiation. For our purposes this will be very important to keep in mind, because during this lecture I would like to invite you to look at ourselves the way we were created. I would also like to invite you to look at the many instances by which this creation can be distorted.