Plasma gonadotrophin concentrations, pituitary gonadotrophin content and pituitary responsiveness to LHRH in rats treated with LHRH and oestradiol benzoate.

Suppression of gonadotrophin secretion during prolonged treatment with a high dose of LHRH was studied. Long-term ovariectomized rats were infused for 6 days with various doses of LHRH (25, 50, 100, 250 or 500 ng/h) with or without simultaneous treatment with oestradiol benzoate (OB; 3 micrograms/s.c. injection); a further group was treated with OB only. The effects of these treatments were studied on plasma concentrations of LH and FSH, the pituitary content of LH and FSH and on LH and FSH secretion in vitro (perifusion) in the unstimulated state and following maximal LHRH stimulation (1 microgram LHRH/ml perifusion medium). Administration of LHRH caused a dose-dependent reduction in plasma concentrations of LH and FSH and depleted the pituitary LH/FSH stores. Treatment with OB lowered the plasma concentration of LH to about 30% and that of FSH to about 65% of the control values. Administration of OB plus a low dose of LHRH (25 or 50 ng/h) markedly stimulated the secretion of LH but not of FSH, so that the plasma concentrations of LH were fully restored to the control value. With higher rates of LHRH infusion, OB caused no enhancement of the plasma concentrations of LH and FSH. The experiments in vitro revealed a sensitizing, i.e. stimulatory effect, of OB on LHRH-stimulated LH and FSH secretion. However, the higher the rate of infusion of LHRH the smaller the sensitizing effect. Interpolation from dose-response curves showed that an LHRH infusion rate of about 150 ng/h (which would establish a plasma concentration of LHRH of about 68 pmol/l) would have no effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)