Effects of aging on the hypothalamic-hypophyseal-gonadal axis in female rats.

The failure of reproductive function in aged rats could be due to deficiencies at the level of the ovary, pituitary, hypothalamus, or higher brain centers. The classic explanation that the ovary is depleted of follicles does not receive adequate support on the basis of histologic studies of aged ovaries. Basal serum gonadotropin levels change with increasing age in female rats. Serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels rise while serum luteinizing hormone (LH) levels fall. Likewise, the characteristic response to castration is markedly altered in aged female rats with a reduced secretion of FSH and a minimal elevation of LH. However, the pituitaires of these animals are still caapable of responding to exogenous LH-releasing hormone with a delayed LH response whose magnitude simulates that seen in younger female animals. With increasing age there is decreased pituitary and/or hypothalamic sensitivity to the feedback action of estradiol. These data are consistent with the postulation that there is an altered hypothalamic-hypophyseal function in aged rats.