Testosterone administration to ovariectomized female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) reduces the frequency of pulsatile luteinizing hormone secretion.

In the male rhesus monkey testosterone (T) retards the frequency of intermittent LH secretion. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether this action of T is demonstrable in the female. Five ovariectomized rhesus monkeys, bearing indwelling cardiac catheters, were implanted s.c. on one or more occasions with T-containing Silastic capsules. Sequential blood samples were collected for 8 h every 10 min before T treatment and usually at 1, 2, 4, and 8 days thereafter. Plasma LH concentrations were measured in duplicate by radioimmunoassay and subsequently analyzed with a computerized algorithm. Sustained increments in circulating T (5-13 ng/ml) in ovariectomized monkeys resulted in a progressive reduction in LH pulse frequencies from approximately 1 pulse every 60 min before initiation of T treatment to 1 pulse every 100-150 min at 48 h thereafter. In most cases the deceleration in pulsatile gonadotropin secretion continued, and by 4-8 days of T treatment LH pulse frequencies as low as 1 pulse every 5 h were observed. The onset of the T-induced deceleration in LH pulse frequency was generally associated with an increase in LH pulse amplitude and with a decline in mean LH levels. This LH response in the female to T treatment was similar to that previously reported for male castrates.