TEMPORAL CHANGES IN THE HYPOTHALAMIC AND SERUM LUTEINIZING HORMONE-RELEASING HORMONE (LH-RH) LEVELS AND THE CIRCULATING OVARIAN STEROIDS DURING THE RAT OESTROUS CYCLE

1977 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pushpa S. Kalra ◽  
Satya P. Kalra

ABSTRACT Cycling female rats were sacrificed at various times during the 4-day oestrous cycle. LH-RH in the medial basal hypothalamus (MBH) and serum LH-RH, LH, oestradiol (Oe2), and progesterone were analyzed by radioimmunoassays. The MBH LH-RH content was lowest at 19.55–20.15 h during pro-oestrus but increased gradually through oestrus and dioestrus I to significantly higher values at noon of dioestrus II, and then decreased precipitously at 18.00 h. Although serum LH levels remained basal from midnight of pro-oestrus through dioestrus II, serum LH-RH levels were significantly elevated at 12.00 and 21.00 h on oestrus (vs. the midnight prooestrus levels) and declined between 15.00 and 22.00 h of dioestrus I. In conjunction with high Oe2 titres, LH-RH in the MBH and serum declined initially during pro-oestrus between 14.07–14.45 h and then increased abruptly between 14.55–15.55 h; the pre-ovulatory rise in serum LH was observed from 16.05 h onwards. LH-RH activity in the MBH and serum receded gradually to the early afternoon levels by 19.55–24.00 h while the peak in serum LH was observed at 17.05–18.05 h. These studies suggested that the hypersecretion of the MBH LH-RH (synthesis + release) may be responsible for the pre-ovulatory discharge of LH.

1975 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. JOHNSON ◽  
R. S. MALLAMPATI

SUMMARY Release of immunoreactive LH and FSH was induced in immature intact female rats by repeated injections of synthetic luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LH-RH). Altering the dose of LH-RH (5, 10, 20, 50 ng) and the frequency of administration (every 10, 20, 30 or 60 min) over a period of 2 h produced a variety of serum LH and FSH concentrations and ratios. When the dose was a constant 20 ng but the frequency of injections was either 20 or 30 min, a steady state in serum gonadotrophin concentrations was reached within 1 h and the level remained the same during the second hour. When given every 10 min, 20 ng LH-RH produced a much higher concentration of both LH and FSH during the second hour of stimulation. Examination of the gonadotrophin levels after each injection of LH-RH showed that the pituitary response was variable in spite of a constant stimulus.


1974 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Morishita ◽  
H. Mitani ◽  
Y. Masuda ◽  
K. Higuchi ◽  
M. Tomioka ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The effect of synthetic luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LH-RH) on ovulation has been studied during the oestrous cycle in adult female rats. Ovulation could be induced by the administration of 1 μg synthetic LH-RH at 1:00 a. m. on the day of dioestrus II (lights on from 10:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m.). At 1:00 a.m. on the day of dioestrus II, the average volume of the largest follicles reached a volume of 83 × 106 μm3 and was three fifth of the volume of that at 6:00 a. m. on the day of pro-oestrus (critical period). These findings suggest that the luteinizing hormone (LH) content in the pituitary gland during the early period of dioestrus II is sufficient to induce ovulation and that the follicles that reach to three fifth of the volume at the critical period are capable of ovulating providing endogenous ovulatory LH released.


1982 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Higuchi ◽  
Masazumi Kawakami

In order to characterize the nature of the LH response to exogenous LH releasing hormone (LH-RH) in female rats during the oestrous cycle and after ovariectomy with or without oestrogen treatment, serum LH levels were determined after repeated LH-RH injections (300 ng/kg body wt, six times with 30-min intervals). The LH response to the first LH-RH stimulation was greatest on the days of pro-oestrus and oestrus followed by dioestrus 2 and dioestrus 1. Second and subsequent LH-RH challenges enhanced the LH response only on pro-oestrus and dioestrus 2. Larger doses of LH-RH (3 μg/kg body wt) induced a small self-priming effect on dioestrus 1 and oestrus. The LH response to the first LH-RH administration increased with time up to 30 days after ovariectomy and then reached a plateau. A small self-priming effect was present in rats ovariectomized for 30 and 60 days, but absent in rats ovariectomized for 5, 10 and 120 days. Oestrogen treatment increased the self-priming effect in rats ovariectomized for 5 days, with little sensitization of the pituitary gland to the first LH-RH injection on the next day. In rats ovariectomized for 120 days, oestrogen treatment enhanced responsiveness to the first and successive LH-RH stimulations on the next day, and further enhancement to the first response only was induced 3 days after oestrogen treatment.


1981 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALISON SPEIGHT ◽  
G. FINK

Dispersed pituitary cells obtained from female rats with regular oestrous cycles were suspended in Bio-Gel columns and perfused with pulses of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LH-RH). There was a close relationship between the amount of LH released and the concentration of LH-RH in the perfusate. It was not possible to elicit the priming effect of LH-RH, but the LH-response changed markedly during the oestrous cycle in a manner similar to that seen in vivo; i.e. the responses of cells prepared from rats killed at pro-oestrus were much greater than the responses of cells prepared from rats killed on other days of the cycle. A similar change in responsiveness was obtained when the columns were perfused with 60 mmol K+/1, suggesting that at least part of the increase in pituitary responsiveness that occurs at pro-oestrus is not dependent upon changes in specific receptors for LH-RH.


1979 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshihiro Aono ◽  
Akira Miyake ◽  
Takenori Shioji Motoi Yasuda ◽  
Koji Koike ◽  
Keiichi Kurachi

ABSTRACT Five mg of bromocriptine was administered for 3 weeks to 8 hyperprolactinaemic women with galactorrhoea-amernorrhoea, in whom the response of serum luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) to 100 μg of iv LH-releasing hormone (LH-RH) had been evaluated. Twenty mg of conjugated oestrogen (Premarin®) was injected iv any day between the 10th and 12th day from the initiation of the treatment, and serum LH levels were serially determined for 120 h. Hyperresponse of LH with normal FSH response to LH-RH was observed in most patients. Bromocriptine treatment for 10 to 12 days significantly suppressed mean (± se) serum prolactin (PRL) levels from 65.1 ± 23.0 to 10.4 ± 2.0 ng/ml, while LH (12.6 ± 2.1 to 24.8 ± 5.9 mIU/ml) and oestradiol (40.1 ± 7.6 to 111.4 ± 20.8 pg/ml) levels increased significantly. Patients on bromocriptine treatment showed LH release with a peak at 48 h after the injection of Premarin. The mean per cent increases in LH were significantly higher than those in untreated patients with galactorrhoea-amenorrhoea between 32 and 96 h after the injection. The present results seem to suggest that the restoration of LH-releasing response to oestrogen following suppression of PRL by bromocriptine may play an important role in induction of ovulation in hyperprolactinaemic patients with galactorrhoea-amenorrhoea.


1979 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHUJI SASAMOTO ◽  
SHIGEO HARADA ◽  
KAZUYOSHI TAYA

When 1·0 μg luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LH-RH) was given i.v. three times at 1 h intervals from 17.00 to 19.00 h on the day of dioestrus (day 0) to regular 4 day cyclic rats, premature ovulation was induced the next morning (day 1) with the number of ova present comparable to normal spontaneous ovulation. The next spontaneous ovulation occurred on the morning of day 5, 4 days after premature ovulation induced by LH-RH. Plasma concentrations of FSH and LH showed transient rises and falls within 1 h of administration of LH-RH; concentrations of FSH in the plasma decreased from 20.00 h on day 0 but markedly increased again from 23.00 h on day 0 to 02.00 h on day 1 and these high levels persisted until 14.00 h on day 1, with only a small increase of plasma LH during this period. The duration of increased FSH release during premature ovulation induced by LH-RH treatment was 6 h longer than the FSH surge occurring after administration of HCG on day 0. Surges of gonadotrophin were absent on the afternoon of day 1 (the expected day of pro-oestrus) and the surges characteristic of pro-oestrus occurred on the afternoon of day 4 and ovulation followed the next morning. The pituitary content of FSH did not decrease despite persisting high plasma levels of FSH during premature ovulation induced by either LH-RH or HCG on day 0. The changes in uterine weight indicated that the pattern of oestrogen secretion from the day of premature ovulation induced by LH-RH to the day of the next spontaneous ovulation was similar to that of the normal 4 day oestrous cycle. When 10 i.u. HCG were given on day 0, an increase in oestrogen secretion occurred on day 2, 1 day earlier than in the group given LH-RH on day 0. This advancement of oestrogen secretion was assumed to be responsible for the gonadotrophin surges on day 3. Similar numbers of fully developed follicles were found by 17.00 h on day 2 after premature ovulation induced by either LH-RH or HCG, suggesting that the shorter surge of FSH during premature ovulation induced by HCG had no serious consequences on the initiation of follicular maturation for the succeeding oestrous cycle in these rats. Administration of LH-RH on day 0 had no direct effect on the FSH surge during premature ovulation. Secretory changes in the ovary during ovulation may be responsible for this prolonged selective release of FSH.


1978 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. BLAKE ◽  
PATRICIA K. BLAKE ◽  
NANCY K. THORNEYCROFT ◽  
I. H. THORNEYCROFT

The effects of coitus and injection of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LH-RH) on serum concentrations of LH, testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (17β-hydroxy-5α-androstan-3-one; DHT) were tested in male rabbits. Before experimentation, male and female rabbits were housed in individual cages in the same room. Male rabbits were then bled by cardiac puncture before and after placement with female rabbits or intravenous injection of LH-RH. Serum LH, testosterone and DHT were measured by radioimmunoassay. Sexual excitement (sniffing, chasing and mounting), with or without intromission, caused a marked rise in serum testosterone and DHT concentrations in only some of the bucks. These increases were accompanied or preceded by a small, transient increase in serum LH. In the rest of the bucks, sexual excitement with or without intromission had either no effect on serum levels of all three hormones, or only serum testosterone and DHT decreased during the collection period. Similar responses were measured in bucks which were housed in a room without does for 2–4 weeks before experimentation. Injection of 10, 30 or 100 ng or 50 μg LH-RH caused serum LH, testosterone and DHT to rise in all bucks tested, but the magnitude of the rises in serum testosterone and DHT were not related to the magnitude of the LH rise. In both mated and LH-RH-injected bucks, the rises in serum testosterone and DHT were greatest in animals with low initial testosterone and DHT values. Under the conditions of this study, the data suggest that: (1) serum testosterone and DHT rise in only some male rabbits after sexual excitement (with or without intromission), (2) the rises in serum testosterone and DHT are dependent on a small transient increase in serum LH and (3) sexual excitement is less likely to cause release of LH-RH in bucks with raised serum testosterone and DHT concentrations.


1976 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. FOSTER ◽  
S. L. JEFFCOATE ◽  
D. B. CRIGHTON ◽  
D. T. HOLLAND

SUMMARY Luteinizing hormone and LH-RH-like immunoreactivity were measured in the jugular venous plasma of Clun Forest ewes at various stages of the oestrous cycle. Blood samples were collected through jugular venous cannulae every 2 h for at least 20 days from three ewes during the breeding season. The ewes were checked twice daily for oestrus using a vasectomized ram. Plasma LH peaks of apparent height 112–192 ng NIH-LH-S17 equivalents/ml were detected at oestrus with basal levels of 2–15 ng/ml during most of the remainder of the 17-day oestrous cycle. Peaks of LH-RH-like immunoreactivity occurred at various times of the cycle. The apparent maximal level of these peaks was 220 pg/ml compared with basal levels of < 10 pg/ml. Further ewes (two for each group) were sampled at 4 min intervals for 12 h, (1) from onset of oestrus, (2) 36–48 h after onset of oestrus or (3) on day 10 of the oestrous cycle. In the ewes sampled at oestrus, peaks of LH-RH-like immunoreactivity were detected before, during and after the preovulatory LH peak. Those detected after the LH peak were unassociated with any further increases in the plasma LH level. In the ewes sampled 36–48 h after onset of oestrus and on day 10 of the cycle, several peaks of LH-RH-like immunoreactivity unassociated with any increases in the LH level were detected. These peaks, and those detected at oestrus, had durations of only one or two samples, and in some cases reached levels of several ng/ml compared with basal levels of < 10 pg/ml. The significance of these results is discussed.


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