Suppression of luteinizing hormone secretion during food restriction in male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): failure of naloxone to restore normal pulsatility.

Short periods of fasting have been shown to cause a significant slowing of pulsatile LH secretion in men and male rhesus monkeys, which appears to result from a slowing of GnRH drive to the reproductive axis. To determine whether an increased activity of endogenous opioid peptides causes this slowing of pulsatile LH secretion, the ability of naloxone administration to reverse the fasting-induced suppression of LH secretion was tested. For this study, 6 adult male rhesus monkeys, with indwelling femoral and jugular venous catheters, were maintained on tether/swivel systems. Naloxone was administered to monkeys as a continuous infusion (0.25 mg/kg/h, with an initial loading dose of approximately 1.0 mg) for 8 h (16.00 to 24.00 h) on a day of normal feeding and again on a day of fasting. The LH response to naloxone was determined by collecting blood samples every 15 min from 12.00 to 24.00 h. LH pulse frequency on a day of normal feeding was 4.0 +/- 0.52 pulses/8 h, and naloxone administration on a day of feeding increased LH pulse frequency to 6.8 +/- 0.86 pulses/8 h. On a day of fasting, LH pulse frequency was 1.67 +/- 0.67 pulses/8 h, and naloxone administration on a day of fasting slightly, but not significantly, increased LH pulse frequency to 2.5 +/- 0.51 pulses/8 h. Similar studies were performed with a higher dose of naloxone (0.625 mg/kg/h, with an initial loading dose of approximately 2.0 mg) and again naloxone administration did not reverse the effects of fasting on pulsatile LH secretion. These results suggest that the slowing of pulsatile LH release that occurs with short periods of food restriction does not result from increased secretion of endogenous opioid peptides.