Background: It is well established that ovarian steroids modulate gonadotropin secretion from anterior pituitary cells. It has been speculated that insulin and IGF-I might influence gonadotropin secretion. Objective: To investigate the effects of IGF-I and estradiol alone, or combinations of IGF-I with insulin and estradiol on GnRH-stimulated LH release from female rat pituitary cells in serum-supplemented and serum-free culture conditions. Methods: Pituitary cells were incubated for 24 h or 48 h with a series of increasing concentrations of IGF-I or estradiol and stimulated with 1 nmol/l GnRH for 3 h. To determine the interaction of IGF-I and estradiol on GnRH-stimulated LH secretion, cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of IGF-I and 100 pmol/l estradiol for 24 h. We also investigated the effects of combined treatment with IGF-I and insulin on GnRH-stimulated LH secretion. Results: Our findings indicate that long-term IGF-I treatment (24 h) alone has a significant augmenting effect on GnRH-stimulated LH release in serum-free medium only, with a maximum at low concentrations (10 and 100 pmol/l). Estradiol significantly increased GnRH-induced LH release in a dose-dependent manner. The extent of GnRH-stimulated LH secretion by long-term estradiol treatment (24 h) was significantly greater in serum-supplemented (+42%) medium than in serumfree medium. Estradiol facilitated IGF-I-primed LH responses to GnRH in serum-free medium. In contrast, in serum-supplemented medium, the facilitating potential of estradiol was lower. We also found that, in GnRH-stimulated cells, LH release was augmented by insulin treatment, in contrast to quiescent cells that had been pretreated with 100 pmol/l IGF-I alone and 1 nmol/l insulin alone. Conclusions: IGF-I and to a lesser extent insulin stimulate GnRH-induced LH secretion from pituitary gonadotrophs. This action is enhanced by estradiol treatment of the cells. However, the well known stimulatory action of estradiol on LH secretion is dependent on the presence of growth factors.

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