Effect of estrogen administration on the induction of the plasma prolactin afternoon surge and on anterior pituitary prolactin concentration extracted at different pHs.

Ovariectomized (OVX) rats were injected with various doses of polyestradiol phosphate (PEP); the anterior pituitary (AP) prolactin (PRL) concentration and the plasma afternoon surge of PRL were observed 1 week later by radioimmunoassay. AP PRL was extracted using carbonate and phosphate buffers at either pH 7.6 or 10.6. The AP concentration of PRL was greater when the AP was extracted with buffers at pH 10.6 and the phosphate buffer was the most efficient. The concentration of PRL in the AP more closely reflected the magnitude of the estrogen-induced afternoon surge when the AP was extracted at pH 10.6 and this was especially so when the higher levels of estrogen were administered.