Kinetics of LRH-induced LH-release in vivo: influence of LRH pre-treatment
Abstract. The influence of an LRH injection (50 ng/ 100 g b.w.) on the LH-response to a second, equally large LRH injection or a constant rate infusion of LRH (104 ng/h), administered 1 h later, was studied in phenobarbitone-anaesthetized, oil- or oestradiol benzoate (OeB)-treated rats ovariectomized (OVX) 5 weeks earlier. From the plasma LH concentration the mean maximal LH secretion rates, as well as the amounts of LH secreted, were calculated on the basis of a one-compartment model, proceeding from a half-life of LH of 15 min. In both the oil- and the OeB-treated animals, not only the mean maximal LH secretion rate, but also the amount of LH secreted during the first hour following the injection, was significantly higher after the second LRH injection than after the first one (LRH self-priming effect). Infusion of LRH in LRH-primed OVX rats revealed that the LH secretion accelerates immediately after the start of the infusion and this acceleration lasts about 1 h. In the saline-injected controls, on the other hand, the LH secretion, although elevated, remains constant during the first 30 min of LRH infusion and accelerates only thereafter during about 1 h. Yet, maximal LH secretion rates are not statistically different between the LRH-primed oil- or OeB-treated OVX rats and their respective saline-injected controls. It is concluded that the self-priming effect of LRH does not lead to an increase of the ultimate maximal LH secretion rate. Rather, during priming the conditions necessary for immediate acceleration of the LH secretion rate are established, and priming thus causes a shift in time, that is, an advancement, of the LH-response to a subsequent LRH stimulus.