Immunoreactive luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone in the frog (Rana esculenta) brain: distribution pattern in the adult, seasonal changes, castration effects, and developmental aspects.

The present work describes the neuroanatomical distribution of the immunoreactive luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (ir-LHRH) system in the brain of adult male and female, castrated male and developing Rana esculenta. No obvious sex differences in the distribution pattern of ir-LHRH were observed. Immunoreactive neuronal cell bodies are not contained within a single anatomically defined area of the brain. They are present as distinct groups in the olfactory bulbs, medial septal area, anterior preoptic area (APOA), retrochiasmatic area of the infundibulum, and interpeduncular nucleus-tegmentum area. Of the entire brain, the medial septal-APOA region exhibits the highest frequency of ir-LHRH cell bodies in both sexes. ir-LHRH fiber projections are present in the olfactory bulbs, medial septal area, APOA, floor of the diencephalon, subhabenular-periventricular area in the epithalamus, lateral suprachiasmatic area, ventrolateral infundibulum, median eminence, pars nervosa, optic tectum, interpeduncular nucleus-tegmentum area, and rhombencephalon grey. Castration seems to bear no effect on the pattern of ir-LHRH system in the frog brain. The influence of castration consisted in decreased intensity of the immunostaining and frequency of occurrence of the septal-APOA neuronal cell bodies. In median eminence, castration also induced a sensible decrease in the immunoreactivity, whereas in the pars nervosa of 50-day castrates ir-LHRH fibers totally disappeared. During ontogenesis, ir-LHRH elements first become evident in stage 31 tadpoles (beginning of metamorphic climax); LHRH immunoreaction is restricted to the cell bodies and fibers in the APOA and some fibers in the ventral hypothalamus and a few in median eminence. This condition remains unaltered until stage 33 when the tail is almost totally resorbed. The possible implications of the ir-LHRH-containing brain areas in the different aspects of reproduction in the frog are briefly discussed.