Differential responsiveness of LH and prolactin to p-tyramine in male and female rats.

The effect of p-tyramine, a natural amine which is found in the rat brain in trace amounts, was evaluated for its capacity to influence LH and prolactin secretion in male and female rats under different hormonal conditions. p-Tyramine (40 mg/kg ip) was ineffective in modifying LH levels in either female or male rats which had been gonadectomized for 2 days, but if the animals were injected with 12.5 micrograms of estradiol benzoate (EB) on the day of castration, p-tyramine was able to release LH in female but not in male rats. To evaluate whether early androgenization of brain structures which control LH secretion was involved in the sexual difference observed, p-tyramine was tested in female androgenized rats (200 micrograms of testosterone propionate on the day of birth), and in male rats castrated at birth. The trace amine was ineffective in altering LH levels in both experimental models, even if rats were pretreated with EB as control females. On the other hand, p-tyramine inhibited prolactin secretion in male rats pretreated with EB, and not in similarly treated female rats. The present results suggest that p-tyramine may be involved not only in prolactin regulation as it has been previously shown, but also in LH control, and that the hormonal response to this amine is sexually differentiated in the rat.