The differential effects of exposure to tobacco smoke on the secretion of luteinizing hormone and prolactin in the proestrous rat.

The acute effects of tobacco smoke inhalation on the spontaneous proestrous rise in serum luteinizing hormone and prolactin have been investigated in the female Wistar rat. It was found that the surge of LH normally seen throughout the afternoon of proestrus was delayed by inhalation of tobacco smoke and that the delay was dose-related to the nicotine content of the cigarettes used in the experiment. In the case of prolactin neither the timing nor the magnitude of the surge was altered when compared with controls. These results suggest that under certain well-defined conditions inhalation of tobacco smoke of known nicotine content is capable of exerting profound influences on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis.