The catecholamine-containing tubero-infundibular system and the control of luteinizing hormone release in the rabbit.

As determined by fluorescence histochemistry, the distribution of catecholamine-containing neurons in the hypothalamus of the female rabbit is similar to that seen in the rat. The fluorescence appearance of the hypothalamus was not appreciably different from normal at 0.25, 1, 4 or 24 h after mating, but in animals in which the synthesis of catecholamines was inhibited by the administration of the tyrosine hydroxylase inhibitor, H44/68, the number of fluorescent neurons seen in the nucleus periventricularis arcuatus following copulation was markedly reduced. However, the concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH) in serum and in the pituitary glands of mated and unmated animals treated with H44/68 were not significantly different from those found in the corresponding control animals. This, together with the fact that ovulation followed mating in drug-treated rabbits suggests that a normal level of catecholamines in the tubero-infundibular system is not essential for the secretion of the amount of LH necessary for ovulation.