Puberty, whether it starts early or at the expected time, starts in the brain. The hypothalamus, a part of the brain, sends a signal to the pituitary gland. This signal—called a gonadotropin releasing hormone, or GnRH, for short—tells the pituitary to release larger amounts of hormones called gonadotropins. Gonadotropins go straight to the ovaries or to the testicles, where they tell the body to produce the sex hormones estrogen (for girls) or testosterone (for boys). This marks the start of puberty.
Modern treatments for CPP are designed to tell the pituitary to ignore the GnRH signal. This ultimately decreases the production of sex steroids.
