SummaryAlthough gap junction plaque assembly has been extensively studied, mechanisms involved in plaque disassembly are not well understood. Disassembly involves an internalization process in which annular gap junction vesicles are formed. These vesicles undergo fission, but the molecular machinery needed for these fissions has not been described. The mechanoenzyme dynamin has been previously demonstrated to play a role in gap junction plaque internalization. To investigate the role of dynamin in annular gap junction vesicle fission, immunocytochemical, time-lapse and transmission electron microscopy were used to analyze SW-13 adrenocortical cells in culture. Dynamin was demonstrated to colocalize with gap junction plaques and vesicles. Dynamin inhibition, by siRNA knockdown or treatment with the dynamin GTPase inhibitor dynasore, increased the number and size of gap junction 'buds' suspended from the gap junction plaques. Buds, in control populations, were frequently released to form annular gap junction vesicles. In dynamin-inhibited populations, the buds were larger and infrequently released and thus fewer annular gap junction vesicles were formed. In addition, the number of annular gap junction vesicle fissions per hour was reduced in the dynamin-inhibited populations. We believe this to be the first report addressing the details of annular gap junction vesicle fissions and demonstrating a role of dynamin in this process. This information is crucial for elucidating the relationship between gap junctions, membrane regulation and cell behavior.

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons in the hypothalamus of the prepubertal monkey may be prematurely provoked into producing a sustained train of intermittent GnRH release. N-methyl-DL-aspartic acid (NMA), an analog of the putative excitatory neurotransmitter aspartate, was used to stimulate the hypothalamus. In order to utilize pituitary luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion as a bioassay of hypothalamic GnRH release, juvenile males were castrated and the responsiveness of their gonadotrophs to GnRH was enhanced prior to the study with a chronic intermittent intravenous infusion of the synthetic decapeptide (0.1 µg/min for 3 min every hour). Treatment with this regimen of GnRH, which appears to provide the pituitary gonadotrophs with a hypophysiotropic stimulus similar to that produced by the hypothalamus of castrated adults, elicited a pattern of pulsatile LH secretion in prepubertal animals similar to that observed in the open-loop situation in adults. This episodic pattern of LH release was sustained without decrement following termination of GnRH priming and initiation of an intermittent intravenous infusion of NMA (4.5–6.5 mg NMA/kg body weight/pulse, administered over 1 min) delivered at a frequency of 1 pulse/1 h for 50 h. In contrast, an intermittent infusion of the vehicle employed to administer NMA (saline) failed to maintain LH secretion. Administration of the same dose of NMA at a slower frequency of 1 pulse/2 h for 52 h, while also sustaining LH secretion without decrement, resulted in an exaggeration in the LH response. Since it has been previously established that NMA-induced release of LH is mediated by hypothalamic GnRH, these results demonstrate that in the monkey GnRH neurons possess the potential for sustaining an adult-like pattern of intermittent GnRH release well before the onset of puberty. The foregoing findings are discussed in the context of current understanding of the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying the prepubertal hiatus in gonadotropin secretion in primates.

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Culture medium 199 supplemented with follicular fluid from 1-2 mm antral porcine follicles inhibited spontaneous luteinization of granulosa cells from preovulatory porcine follicles in vitro. Three characteristics of luteinization were inhibited: morphological transformation, progesterone secretion, and accumulation of cyclic AMP in response to LH. The last was inhibited more effectively by culture media containing 50% follicular fluid than by media containing 20% follicular fluid. The inhibitory actions of the follicular fluid were not altered by charcoal or petroleum ether extraction. Follicular fluid from large follicles (6-12 mm) did not exhibit any of these inhibitory actions. These observations may indicate the presence of a luteinization inhibitor in the fluid of small follicles which (1) is lost by the time the follicle reaches the preovulatory stage, or (2) is overcome by a stimulatory agent which may accumulate as the follicle grows.

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