The present experiments investigated the time course of maternal modulation of GH secretion and examined the possible role of milk in the regulation of GH secretion in neonatal rats. Serum GH concentrations in neonatal rats were high at birth and declined over time postpartum. Separation of rat pups from their mothers decreased, while a subsequent period of suckling increased, serum GH levels in rat pups on postpartum days 1-14, but not on day 20. The water-soluble fraction (infranatant) of rat milk contained immunoreactive (ir) rat GH-releasing hormone (rGHRH)-like material (725.06 +/- 81.29 pg/ml), ir-somatostatin-like activity (1.64 +/- 0.2 ng/ml), and irGH (4.79 +/- 0.73 ng/ml). The concentrations of these hormones tended to decrease with time postpartum and were positively correlated with each other (r = 0.70; P less than or equal to 0.0001). IrPRL was also present in the infranatant (148.44 +/- 14.55 ng/ml), but levels were not correlated with the other hormones detected. Milk infranatant stimulated GH secretion from perifused neonatal rat pituitary glands in vitro. Milk infranatant also stimulated GH secretion in vivo when administered sc or intragastrically to 2- or 8-day-old rat pups. The GH-releasing effect was not due to gastric distension or nonspecific nutritive components, as neither 0.9% saline nor nutrients (5% glucose and 10% BSA) increased serum GH levels. The presence of high concentrations of irGHRH in rat milk infranatant and the strong correlation between the irGHRH concentrations of milk samples and the in vitro GH response (r = 0.71; P less than or equal to 0.005) suggested that this peptide is a major candidate for producing the in vitro and in vivo GH-stimulating activity in rat milk. However, the minimally effective concentration of synthetic rGHRH required to stimulate GH release in the superfusion system was between 1-10 nM, which exceeds milk irGHRH levels by 100- to 1000-fold. Moreover, in vivo administration of synthetic rGHRH (sc or intragastrically) was unable to increase serum GH concentrations in 2-day-old pups, although a large dose (100 ng/g) of human GHRH sc was effective. These findings indicate that rat milk may be an important maternal factor that modulates GH secretion and, consequently, growth during the neonatal period. Rat milk has GH-releasing activity both in vivo and in vitro in neonatal rats, but the GH-releasing activities of milk are probably only minimally due to its rGHRH content.

Lordotic behavior was facilitated in estrogen-primed female rats by direct application of progesterone or serotonergic or /3-adrenergic receptor blockers to specific telencephalic, anterior hypothalamic-medial preoptic, or posterior hypothalamic sites. Blockade of the a-adrenergic system was ineffective in facilitating lordosis, as was the application of the active drugs to control sites in the thalamus or basal ganglia. Female soliciting behavior was not evoked by any of the treatments. It is concluded that the lordotic behavior component of the female rat's estrous behavior pattern is inhibited by a specific central monoaminergic system that also responds to progesterone. Soliciting behavior appears to be mediated by systems that are anatomically, and possibly neurochemically, separable from those regulating lordosis.Sexual behavior in females appears to be under the inhibitory control of a serotonergic brain system (Meyerson, 1964a(Meyerson, , 1964b(Meyerson, , 1964c(Meyerson, , 1966a(Meyerson, , 1966b(Meyerson, , 1968. Systemic administration of drugs that decrease transmission at serotonergic synapses in the central nervous system (CNS), such as reserpine, tetrabenazine, parachlorophenylalanine (PCPA), or methysergide, produces lordosis in estrogen-primed female rats (Meyerson, 1964a(Meyerson, , 1964b(Meyerson, , 1964cMeyerson & Lewander, 1970;Zemlan, Ward, Crowley, & Margules, 1973). An alternative explanation of these results has been proposed. Increases in lordosis may be due not to a central drug action but rather to a drug-induced release of progesterone from the adrenal cortex

Somatostatin inhibits growth hormone (GH) and thyrotropin (TSH) secretion in the rat. Previous studies have shown that small discrete lesions of the periventricular hypothalamic (PV) and medial-basal amygdaloid (AMG) nuclei, which contain high concentrations of somatostatin neurons, reduce somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI) in the median eminence (ME) by approximately two thirds and one third, respectively. The present study assessed the function of the PV and AMG somatostatin systems in the regulation of basal episodic GH and TSH secretion. Three experiments were performed in freely behaving, chronically cannulated adult male rats. In experiment 1, bilateral electrolytic lesions (20 mC) were placed in the PV at the level of the paraventricular nucleus. In experiment 2, bilateral thermal lesions (55 °C × 1 min) were placed in the AMG. In experiment 3, thermal lesions were placed in both the PV and AMG (PV/AMG). Blood samples were removed from animals every 15 min for 5.5 h 14–21 days postoperatively. The ME was microdissected for determination of SLI content. PV, AMG and PV/AMG lesions reduced ME SLI by 59, 26, and 91%, respectively. PV or AMG lesions had no effect on the amplitude or frequency of GH secretory peaks, GH trough levels or the total amount of GH secreted, whereas combined PV/AMG lesions reduced GH peak levels. Lesions of the AMG caused a 34% increase in mean plasma TSH levels, while PV or PV/AMG lesions reduced TSH. The latter effect was probably caused by damage to thyrotropin-releasing hormone neurons and/or axons, which are also located in the PV region. These results suggest that PV and AMG somatostatin systems may not have a significant role in the regulation of basal episodic GH secretion and the putative AMG somatostatin system exerts a significant inhibitory influence on TSH secretion.

Kacsóh B, Opp JS, Crowley WR, Grosvenor CE. Interaction between the a2-adrenergic system and nursing in the regulation of growth hormone secretion in the neonatal rat. Acta Endocrinol 1993;128:184-91. ISSN 0001-5598 Separation of neonatal rats from their mothers decreases, while a subsequent period of suckling (nursing) increases, serum growth hormone (GH) levels in neonatal rats. Milk-borne (humoral) factors and neural factors inherent in mother-offspring interaction have been implicated in these phenomena. Conflicting reports have demonstrated the \g=a\2-adrenergic agonist clonidine to increase and to decrease serum GH levels in 10-day-old rats. The present experiments were aimed at testing whether an interaction between the \g=a\2-adrenergic system and the nursing-induced changes in GH secretion could account for the discrepancy. Rat pups were treated with clonidine (150 \g=m\g/kg) or the \g=a\2-adrenergic antagonist yohimbine (10 mg/kg), and the drug treatment was combined with separation of the mothers and nursing. Yohimbine did not affect serum GH levels in separated two-day-old pups (i.e. basal levels of the hormone), but prevented the nursing-induced increase in serum GH concentration. In twoday-old pups, clonidine had no effect on basal GH levels but, like yohimbine, prevented the increase in serum GH normally associated with nursing. Both yohimbine and clonidine prevented active sucking behavior, i.e. the pups did not search for and/or attach to the nipples of their mothers. Moreover, the pups treated with yohimbine and clonidine were cooler to the touch than the littermate controls. In eight-day-old pups, yohimbine prevented the nursing-induced increase in serum GH and decreased GH levels below the saline-injected, separated control. As in two-day-old pups, clonidine prevented the suckling-induced release of GH and failed to induce GH-release above that of saline-injected, separated pups. By day 10 postpartum. clonidine became capable of stimulating GH release, but only in separated male pups. The effects of CLO and nursing in male pups were not additive: either treatment alone was as