Intrahypothalamic injection of a cell line secreting gonadotropin-releasing hormone results in cellular differentiation and reversal of hypogonadism in mutant mice.

GT1 is an immortalized cell line that synthesizes and secretes the neurohormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). We have placed these cells into the brains of adult mutant hypogonadal (hpg) mice, which lack a functional GnRH gene, to determine whether such cells could differentiate in situ and support gonadal development. Immunocytochemical detection of GnRH revealed that these cells migrated widely in the central nervous system and elaborated axonal processes which on rare occasion projected to the normal target, the median eminence. Using a battery of antibodies, we demonstrated that these cells could cleave the GnRH precursor and that the amidated decapeptide as well as other cleavage products were present. The presence of biologically active material and its appropriate secretion were further documented by gonadal growth in both males and females. The morphological differentiation of the GT1 cells correlated with the density of cells injected. Those remaining within the injection site and/or forming a tumor retained a simple, rounded or fibroblastic appearance. Those cells that migrated into the host away from such tumors assumed the simple fusiform shape of normal GnRH neurons with dendrites extending from one or both poles. When cell density was drastically reduced a much more complex dendritic arbor was elaborated. These data suggest that such cell lines can be useful in reversing genetic defects and in studying such processes as GnRH neuronal migration, axonal targeting, and cytological differentiation.