Inhibition by prolactin of gonadotrophin-induced cyclic AMP accumulation in the preovulatory ovary.

We investigated whether prolactin acts at the ovarian level by interfering with the accumulation of gonadotrophin-induced ovarian cyclic AMP. Mouse ovaries were incubated with hCG and varying doses of prolactin. At the end of the incubation, the cyclic AMP which accumulated in the tissue + medium was measured. In ovaries devoid of corpora lutea, a significant inverse correlation (r = -0.93, P less than 0.05) was obtained between the doses of prolactin (0.1-25.6 micrograms ovine prolactin) and hCG-induced accumulation of ovarian cyclic AMP. In the presence of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor IBMX, however, the same doses of prolactin failed to exhibit any restricting influence on the accumulation of cyclic AMP. In luteinized ovaries, the same doses of prolactin in the absence of IBMX did not inhibit the hCG-induced cyclic AMP accumulation.