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The general name for one of the two principal female sex hormones (the other is progesterone), responsible for stimulating growth of the female reproductive system (the vagina, the cervix, the uterus and the fallopian tubes) and growth of the breasts. The main estrogen is estradiol, produced by: the developing follicle (and to a lesser extent by the corpus luteum) in the ovary; by the trophoblast of the placenta; and by the body’s fat tissues (through conversion from male sex hormones, or androgens, in the blood). After the menopause the main estrogen is the weaker one, estrone, largely derived from conversion by the body’s fat of the weak androgen androstenedione
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