The effect of hypophysectomy and gonadotropin administration on the distribution and quantity of LH-RH in the brains of platyfish: a combined immunocytochemistry and radioimmunoassay study.

Radioimmunoassay (RIA) and immunocytochemistry (ICC) were used to study the effect of hypophysectomy (H) on the distribution and quantity of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) in the brains of sham-operated-saline-injected, H-saline-injected and H-gonadotropin (GTH)-injected mature female platyfish (Xiphophorus maculatus). In fish hypophysectomized for 5 weeks, there was a decrease in the LH-RH content of the brain (mean +/- S.E. = 446 +/- 31 pg, H-saline-injected; 649 +/- 28 pg, sham-operated-saline-injected). The administration of five 10-micrograms injections of salmon GTH on alternate days beginning in the fifth week of H resulted in a small but significant (P less than 0.05) decrease in LH-RH beyond H-saline-injected group levels (362 +/- 36 pg). The ICC analysis of H fish indicated a decrease in immunoreactive (ir)-LH-RH in the nucleus preopticus periventricularis (NPP) and nucleus lateralis tuberis pars posterioris (NLT), but a marked increase in the immunoreactivity of the neurons in the nucleus olfactoretinalis (NOR). The H fish which received GTH showed a decrease in ir-LH-RH in the NOR, but a slight increase in the NPP and NLT. The results demonstrate that although there is a general decrease in the LH-RH content of brains in H fish as determined by RIA and ICC, one of 3 ir-LH-RH-containing centers of the brain, the NOR, shows a marked increase in ICC-demonstrable LH-RH, indicating that these 3 regions may differ in their roles in the regulation of the reproductive system. The drop in RIA-measurable LH-RH in the brain, along with the enlarged perikarya observed in all 3 regions, suggests that an increase in the synthesis and release of LH-RH occurs in response to removal of the pituitary. The functional significance of the NOR and the feedback mechanisms between brain, pituitary and gonads are discussed.