Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) increases GABAergic neurotransmission to GnRH neurons via suppressing the retrograde tonic endocannabinoid signaling pathway in mice

Introduction: Hypophysiotropic gonadotropin releasing-hormone (GnRH) neurons orchestrate various physiological events that control the onset of puberty. Previous studies showed that insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) induces the secretion of GnRH and accelerates the onset of puberty, suggesting a regulatory role of this hormone upon GnRH neurons. Methods: To reveal responsiveness of GnRH neurons to IGF-1 and elucidate molecular pathways acting downstream to the IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R), in vitro electrophysiological experiments were carried out on GnRH-GFP neurons in acute brain slices from prepubertal (23-29 days) and pubertal (50-day) male mice. Results: Administration of IGF-1 (13 nM) significantly increased the firing rate and frequency of spontaneous postsynaptic currents (sPSCs), and that of excitatory GABAergic miniature postsynaptic currents (mPSCs). No GABAergic mPSCs were induced by IGF-1 in the presence of GABAA-R blocker picrotoxin. The increase in the mPSC frequency was prevented by the use of IGF-1R antagonist, JB1 (1 µM) or the intracellularly applied PI3K blocker (LY294002, 50 µM) showing involvement of IGF-1R and PI3K in the mechanism. Blockade of the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), an element of the tonic retrograde endocannabinoid machinery by AMG9810 (10 µM) or antagonizing cannabinoid receptor type-1 (CB1) by AM251 (1 µM) abolished the effect. Discussion/Conclusion: These findings indicate that IGF-1 arrests the tonic retrograde endocannabinoid pathway in GnRH neurons and this disinhibition increases the release of GABA from presynaptic terminals that, in turn, activates GnRH neurons leading to the fine-tuning of the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis.