By showing that the neuroendocrine control of female puberty involves the participation of a repressive mechanism of epigenetic regulation, our results provide a novel insight into the integrative mechanisms utilized by the neuroendocrine brain to control the initiation of mammalian puberty. As such, they are consistent with the concept that the pubertal process is not only dependent on genetic determinants, but also on developmentally regulated changes in epigenetic information. They also raise the possibility that human syndromes of idiopathic precocious and delayed puberty of central origin may have a previously unappreciated epigenetic component.
