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Direct actions of the luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist, deslorelin, on anterior pituitary contents of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), LH and FSH subunit messenger ribonucleic acid, and plasma concentrations of LH and FSH in castrated male cattle.

The objective in this study was to characterize direct effects of the LHRH agonist, deslorelin, on anterior pituitary gland function in male cattle in the absence of gonadal feedback. Castrated bulls (steers), 30 mo old, were allocated to four groups: group 1, control, no treatment (n = 8); group 2, five deslorelin implants (approximately 250 micrograms total deslorelin/day) for 42 days (n = 8); group 3, control+ LHRH (50 micrograms i.m.) at weekly intervals (n = 3); group 4, five deslorelin implants+LHRH as for group 3 (n = 3). Plasma LH was similar (p > 0.05) for steers in groups 1 and 2 on Day 0 and lower (p < 0.05) for steers in group 2 on Day 4, and continued to decrease to Day 41 (group 1, 1.71 +/- 0.20 ng/ml [mean +/- SEM]; group 2, 0.38 +/- 0.03 ng/ml [p < 0.001]). Mean plasma concentrations of FSH were similar (p > 0.05) for steers in groups 1 and 2 on Day 0 and lower (p < 0.05) for steers in group 2 on Day 7, and declined to Day 41 (group 1, 43.5 +/- 3.9 ng/ml; group 2, 17.5 +/- 1.5 ng/ml [p < 0.001]). Steers in group 3 showed increases in plasma LH after injection of LHRH on all occasions, while steers in group 4 did not show increases in plasma LH from Day 14 onward. Mean relative pituitary contents (arbitrary units) of LH beta- and FSH beta-subunit mRNAs were reduced on Day 42 in steers treated with deslorelin (LH beta: groups 1 and 3, 1.56 +/- 0.27; groups 2 and 4, 0.08 +/- 0.01 [p < 0.001]; FSH beta: groups 1 and 3, 1.01 +/- 0.08; groups 2 and 4, 0.34 +/- 0.07 [p < 0.001]). However, alpha-subunit mRNA was similar for control steers and steers treated with deslorelin (groups 1 and 3, 1.00 +/- 0.11; groups 2 and 4, 0.86 +/- 0.12 [p > 0.1]). Pituitary content of LH, but not FSH, was reduced in steers treated with deslorelin. In summary, steers treated with deslorelin showed desensitization to natural LHRH, and this was associated with reduced pituitary contents of LH and FSH beta-subunit mRNAs, a reduction in pituitary content of LH, and decreases in plasma concentrations of LH and FSH. This demonstrated, for the first time, a direct action of LHRH agonist on LH and FSH beta-subunit gene expression in cattle, independent of gonadal feedback. Also, there was a differential effect of treatment with deslorelin on gonadotropin alpha- and beta-subunit mRNA contents in the anterior pituitary.

Animals↗

Influence of the luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist, deslorelin, on patterns of estradiol-17 beta and luteinizing hormone secretion, ovarian follicular responses to superstimulation with follicle-stimulating hormone, and recovery and in vitro development of oocytes in heifer calves.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of inducing pituitary desensitization by treatment with an LHRH agonist (deslorelin) on reproductive hormone secretion and ovarian follicular status in heifer calves, before and during stimulation with FSH. The recovery and in vitro development of oocytes was also investigated. Brahman (Bos indicus) calves, 6 mo old, received either no treatment from Day 0 to Day 8 and injections of FSH on Days 9, 10, and 11 (controls, n = 10), or bioimplants of deslorelin on Day 0 and injections of FSH on Days 9, 10, and 11 (deslorelin calves, n = 10). Ovarian follicular characteristics were determined on Days -2, 0, and 8 by ultrasonography; follicle sizes (2-4 mm, 5-7 mm, 8-9 mm, or > or = 10 mm) were recorded. Ovaries were removed surgically on Day 12, surface follicle numbers and sizes were recorded, and oocytes were aspirated, graded (A-grade, B-grade, denuded, atretic), and prepared for in vitro fertilization and culture. Blood samples were taken throughout the experiment to monitor plasma concentrations of LH, estradiol-17 beta (estradiol) and progesterone. Treatment with deslorelin desensitized the pituitary in heifer calves and altered patterns of LH and estradiol secretion. There were no apparent consistent effects of deslorelin treatment on follicle numbers and growth. A higher number of combined A-grade and B-grade oocytes were obtained from heifers treated with deslorelin, which, in turn, resulted in twice the number of blastocysts. Treatment with an LHRH agonist provides a model for studying the hormonal requirements for follicle growth and in vivo oocyte maturation in heifer calves.

Analysis of Variance↗

Expression of Fos within luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone neurons, in relation to the steroid-induced luteinizing hormone surge in guinea pigs.

The induction of Fos protein was examined within LHRH neurons of guinea pigs; the aim was to delineate relationships between subgroups of LHRH neurons during an LH surge in a laboratory rodent in which the distribution of LHRH neurons and the presence of a true luteal phase in the reproductive cycle resemble those in primates. Approximately one third of the forebrain population of LHRH neurons was examined in ovariectomized steroid-treated guinea pigs killed either before or during a steroid-induced LH surge. LHRH/Fos double-labeled neurons were more abundant in surging compared to presurge guinea pigs (p = 0.008) and were most abundant within the preoptic area and anterior hypothalamus. Nonetheless, double-labeled LHRH/Fos neurons were observed throughout the remainder of the population of LHRH neurons in surging guinea pigs. A relative loss of LHRH reaction product was detected by image analysis in the LHRH terminals in the median eminence of surging guinea pigs, consistent with augmented LHRH release. Thus, there appears to be a coordinated increase in Fos expression in subgroups of LHRH neurons, more pronounced in rostral, as compared to caudal, regions in guinea pigs killed after the peak of the steroid-induced LH surge.

Animals↗

Fos expression in luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone neurons of guinea pigs, with knife cuts separating the preoptic area and the hypothalamus, demonstrating luteinizing hormone surges.

LHRH neurons in guinea pigs, as in primates and other non-rodent species, are broadly distributed in the basal forebrain. In this study, knife cuts were made in the anterior hypothalamus, effectively separating more caudally positioned hypothalamic LHRH neurons from those in rostral preoptic areas. Guinea pigs with knife cuts displayed an LH surge in response to steroid administration. There was no significant difference in the number of LHRH neurons that expressed Fos in conjunction with an LH surge, although fewer total LHRH neurons were detected in the forebrain of knife-cut versus sham-cut animals. Knife-cut animals displayed a larger percentage of LHRH/Fos neurons in one region of the caudal hypothalamus than sham-cut animals. The area and perimeter of the LHRH reaction product within the cytoplasm of LHRH/Fos neurons were smaller than those of single-labeled LHRH neurons in sham-cut animals and in the caudal hypothalamus, but not the rostral preoptic area, of knife-cut animals. We conclude that caudal hypothalamic LHRH neurons separated from rostral preoptic regions are capable of sustaining an LH surge in guinea pigs. This finding is important, as LHRH neurons are present in the caudal hypothalamus, as well as in preoptic areas, of a large number of mammalian species, including humans.

Animals↗

Psychoendocrine interaction in anorexia nervosa, and the retreat from puberty: a study of attitudes to adolescent conflict, and luteinizing hormone response to luteinizing hormone releasing factor, in refed anorexia nervosa subjects.

Seventeen young women suffering from anorexia nervosa underwent LHRF infusion, and repertory grid psychometric measures, soon after they had regained ideal body weight. Those who had regained normal LH responsiveness showed repertory grid evidence of increased adolescent conflict compared to those who failed to respond to LHRF. Certain other clinical variables which might account for this finding were excluded, and the hypothesis that amenorrhoea in anorexia nervosa is partly explicable as a psychobiological defence against adolescent conflict is supported.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Morphological evidence that luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone neurons participate in the suppression by estradiol of pituitary luteinizing hormone secretion in ovariectomized rats.

Morphological characteristics of LHRH neurons identified by immunocytochemistry were studied using light and electron microscopy in female rats in which estradiol was replaced at the time of ovariectomy ('pseudo-intact' rats) or 3 weeks after ovariectomy (long-term ovariectomized, estradiol-treated). While estradiol levels were equivalent in these two groups, the rise in LH after ovariectomy was prevented by the immediate administration in the pseudo-intact rats, while the augmented plasma LH levels present three weeks following ovariectomy were only reduced by 50% as a result of delayed estradiol treatment. The LHRH content of the medial basal hypothalamus (MBH) including the median eminence (ME) was greater in pseudo-intact females than in untreated long-term ovariectomized control females or long-term ovariectomized, estradiol-treated females, both 1 and 14 days after estradiol exposure. Immunocytochemistry revealed fewer LHRH-immunopositive neuronal processes coursing throughout the MBH and terminating in the ME of long-term ovariectomized, estradiol-treated rats compared to those in pseudo-intact rats. However, within individual neurovascular terminals in the ME, image analysis revealed that the area of reaction product was greater in long-term ovariectomized, estradiol-treated animals. Equivalent amounts of LHRH were assayed in the MBH within each group of animals by several LHRH antisera regardless of their different binding requirements (R42, IJ29 and A-R743), suggesting that the predominant moiety present in neuronal terminals is the fully mature decapeptide. In contrast, in the preoptic area-anterior hypothalamus (POA-AH) these antisera assayed amounts of LHRH that varied as a function of binding characteristics, although the quantities did not vary with the estradiol treatment schedule. Immunocytochemical results paralleled these assay data; antisera requiring an interior sequence of amino acids (A-R743 and A-R419) detected approximately 3 times as many immunoreactive perikarya in the POA-AH as did an antiserum requiring the free amidated C terminal (IJ29). The estradiol treatment schedules had no effect on the total number of LHRH-immunopositive neurons detected by each antiserum or the distribution of LHRH-immunopositive neuronal perikarya. These data support the hypothesis that the predominant moieties present in neuronal cell bodies are precursor forms. The fine-structural characteristics of LHRH-immunopositive neuronal cell bodies are consistent with greater secretory and biosynthetic activity in LHRH neurons of long-term ovariectomized, estradiol-treated rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗

Pulsatile nature of luteinizing hormone release is maintained during luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone stimulation in normal male rats.

The plasma LH concentration is believed to be reasonably steady in normal male rats. We found that LH is released in a regular pulsatile fashion. The overall mean concentration of plasma LH in normal male rats was 46.6 +/- 4.4 (mean +/- SEM) ng/ml. The normal male rats showed periodic LH pulses: the mean pulse amplitude was 144.4 +/- 25.5 ng/ml and the inter-peak interval was 22.5 +/- 2.0 min. Each pulse lasted 9.7 +/- 0.8 min. When LH-RH (1 microgram/kg) was injected as a bolus, the peak concentration was attained in 10-30 min reaching a peak concentration of 279.4 +/- 39.6 ng/ml. Distinct pulsatile bursts of plasma LH were discernible during the period of elevated plasma LH concentration. When a higher dose of LH-RH (5 micrograms/kg) was administered, the LH concentration slowly increased to a peak concentration of 400.2 +/- 38.7 ng/ml in 20-40 min. The pulsatile nature of the LH concentration was recognizable with distinct bursts. We have observed that: (a) normal male rats release LH in a pulsatile fashion with an approximate 20-min inter-peak interval; (b) mean LH pulses last less than 10 min, and (c) the LH pulses are visible even with elevated LH and LH-RH concentrations in the general circulation.

Animals↗

Changes in plasma luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone and gonadotropin concentrations during constant rate intravenous infusion of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone in cyclic rats.

Further analysis has been made of the response of the rat pituitary gland to LHRH during the 4-day estrous cycle. LHRH was infused iv at a constant rate (50 ng/h) into phenobarbital-treated rats at different times during the estrous cycle. Infusion at this rate in proestrous rats simulates the rising and plateau phases of the spontaneous proestrous surges of LH and FSH in plasma. Plasma LH rose to similar heights during the "initial phase" of LH release (during the first 40 min of infusion) on the afternoons of estrus, diestrous day one, and proestrus and during the morning of proestrus. The increase during the afternoon of diestrous day two was significantly less than that in all the other groups. A similar response was seen in the case of FSH release. A "rapid rising" or "augmented" phase of LH release (during 40-120 min of infusion) was present in all groups and the magnitude of the response was greatest during the afternoon of proestrus. In the case of FSH, an augmented phase of release started 60 min after the start of infusion, and the response during the afternoon of proestrus was slightly greater than the responses measured at the other times tested. The responses on diestrous day one were not altered when phenobarbital was omitted or when rats were ovariectomized shortly before LHRH infusion. Other differences in the LH and FSH responses during both initial and augmented phases of release were seen in rats tested at different times during the estrous cycle with an LHRH infusion rate which caused a supraphysiological response on proestrus. The results suggest that 1) the initial rising phases in plasma LH and FSH during the spontaneous surges during proestrus are not the result of an increase in pituitary responsiveness to LHRH during the estrous cycle, 2) augmented phases of LH and FSH release can be elicited on all days of the estrous cycle, and 3) the increases in magnitude of the augmented phases of LH and FSH release on proestrus, as compared to those on other days of the cycle, are the result of an increase in pituitary responsiveness to LHRH during the estrous cycle.

Animals↗

Effect of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone on the secretion of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and testosterone in adult male rhesus monkeys.

Plasma levels of radioimmunoreactive LH, FSH, and testosterone (T) were assayed before and after administration of synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) to five chair-restrained rhesus monkeys with chronic indwelling venous catheters. Intravenous injection of 1, 5, and 25 microgram or infusion of 1 microgram/min for 25 min of GnRH resulted in a significant increase in plasma levels of LH. However, no significant increases in plasma FSH levels were detected. Plasma levels of T were also elevated after administration of 25 microgram GnRH, but peak concentration of T lagged behind peak levels of LH by approximately 30 min. These studies indicate that the male rhesus responds to GnRH administration by increased secretion of LH, followed by an increase in T levels. A concomitant increase in plasma FSH was not observed after treatment with GnRH in the doses used.

Animals↗

Analysis of luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone release kinetics during a dynamic secretory event, the postpartum preovulatory surge in the rat, based on quantitative changes in stored and circulating luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone and metabolic clearance data for these hormones.

The original objective of this study was to use available distribution volume (V) and deca constant (k) estimates for rat LH and FSH to determine the amounts of these hormones synthesized and released during a dynamic secretory event, the postpartum preovulatory surge. The problem was approached by 1) determining the approximate rates and durations of pituitary LH and FSH depletion during the surge, and 2) comparing observed plasma LH and FSH patterns with patterns calculated on the assumptions a) that the rates and durations of LH and FSH release would have to equal or exceed the rates and durations of LH and FSH depletion, and b) that the V and k estimates reported by Bogdanove and Gay (Endocrinology 84: 1118, 1969) would be applicable in this situation. The observed surges proved to be 3- to 10-fold smaller than the calculated patterns, suggesting either that depletion exceded release or that inappropriate values of V and/or k had been used in the calculations. Subsequent reexaminations of LH clearance kinetics (Campbell et al., accompanying reports) provided larger estimates for both VLH and kLH. Recalculation of the data, using these new parameters, eliminated the apparent discrepancy between depletion and release. On the basis of these direct comparisons of stored and circulating LH, it seems that a "half-life" shorter than 30 min and a distribution volume greater than 3 ml/100 g must be used to model the effects of variations in LH release on circulating LH in the rat.

Animals↗

Prolonged infusion of rat luteinizing hormone alters its metabolic clearance pattern: indirect evidence for postsecretory mutation of luteinizing hormone.

Constant rate infusion/stop-entry experiments of varied duration were done with rat pituitary LH to test the possibility that the relatively slow disappearance of endogenous circulating LH after hypophysectomy/stop-entry in orchidectomized rats might be due to redistributive distortion consequent to a prolonged "packing" of the extravascular LH spaces in these animals. The findings indicated that prolongation of LH infusion did result in progressive flattening of the decay curve after stop-entry. After 1 h of infusion, constant rate infusion/stop-entry decay of LH was nearly as rapid as decay after simple pulse injection of the same extract. After 24 h of infusion, it was nearly as slow as after hypophysectomy/stop-entry. However, this change could not be explained solely on the basis of redistribution, because a similar difference was seen when disappearance of "infused" and "injected" pituitary LH were examined by pulse injection of sera collected from rats which had been given this LH by injection or prolonged infusion. Although variations in extravascular LH "packing" might have influenced LH disappearance in the donor rats, there was no opportunity for such variations to develop in the recipients. Although the mechanism(s) involved in this progressive change in the metabolic clearance characteristics of exogenous (extracted) circulating LH might simply be selective accumulation of the molecules most capable for surviving in the blood, other possibilities exist (e.g. actual mutation of circulating LH molecules). Whether endogenous (secreted) LH undergone similar changes during its sojourn in the circulation is not yet known but these findings suggest that postsecretory mechanisms could contribute to the apparent qualitative difference(s) between stored and circulating rat LH. Several implications of this new information have been discussed.

Animals↗

Endogenous opioids participate in the regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-luteinizing hormone axis and testosterone's negative feedback control of luteinizing hormone.

Two narcotic antagonists, naloxone and naltrexone, significantly elevated serum LH levels in male rats within minutes after their sc injection. The peak increase in serum LH occurred 20 min after the injection. Naloxone increased LH levels up to a dose of 1 mg/kg, after which no further increases were found. A dose of 0.35 mg/kg produced a half-maximal response. The exogenous opioid morphine blocked the increase in LH produced by naloxone in a dose-dependent fashion, suggesting that the specific receptor-blocking effects of the antagonist could account for its enhancement of serum LH levels. The locus of action of naloxone within the hypothalamic-pituitary-LH axis appeared to be at the level of the hypothalamus since the drug had no effect on LHRH-stimulated release of LH by the anterior pituitary and did not block dihydrotestosterone's suppression of pituitary LH release in vitro. Naloxone also prevented testosterone's negative feedback inhibition of serum LH in the castrated male rat. The results of these studies suggest that endogenous opioids exist in brain tissue which normally inhibit activity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-LH axis and participate in the androgen-dependent feedback control of LH elaboration by this axis.

Animals↗