Pituitary Gland

Abstract

A B S T R A C T The development of a species specific radioimmunoassay for rabbit luteinizing hormone (LH) has permitted the direct demonstration of LH feedback control of LH secretion (short-loop feedback control). In previous studies we showed that small bolus injections of human LH (hLH) intravenously administered to castrate female rabbits suppressed rabbit LH for 20-30 min. Human LH had no effect on rabbit follicle-stimulating hormone secretion. This control system was responsive to amounts of hLH estimated to be present in blood of eugonadal men and women. These studies were designed to determine whether this feedback control was exerted at a pituitary or hypothalamic level. Two groups of studies were carried out: (a) in vivo studies: Rabbit LH was quantified in the blood of castrated female New Zealand White rabbits receiving either constant hLH perfusion (2.75 IU/min) or saline perfusion, plus a bolus injection of 0.5, 6, or 20 ug of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Human LH decreased the response to 6 and 20 ,ug of GnRH by 31 and 36%, respectively, and abolished the response to 0.5 Ag, GnRH. (b) in vitro studies: Rabbit pituitary slices were incubated in the presence of medium alone, medium plus hLH (25 mIU/ml), medium plus GnRH (20 ,ag/ml), and medium plus both GnRH and hLH. hLH decreased basal rabbit LH release into the medium and abolished GnRH-stimulated rabbit LH release. hLH had no effect on rabbit follicle-stimulating hormone release. From these results we conclude that a direct and specific feedback control of LH on LH exists at a pituitary level.

Luteinizing Hormone Involvement in Aging Female Cognition: Not All Is Estrogen Loss

“…Interestingly, LH immunoreactivity is remarkably reversed when peripheral LH levels are downregulated and lead to improved cognition ( 59 ). These experiments, therefore, provide ample support to the idea of inverse relationship between peripheral LH and central LH, and further suggest that the LH and hCG in the periphery are capable of self-regulating their levels through short-loop feedback into the brain ( 105 , 107 , 108 ).…”