Comparative studies of prolactin secretion in estradiol-primed and normal male rats induced by ether stress, pimozide and TRH.

The differences in plasma prolactin concentration between normal and estradiol-implanted male rats were compared after treatment with 3 different stimulating agents of prolactin secretion [ether anesthesia, pimozide (a "specific' dopaminergic receptor blocking agent) and TRH] using conscious, free-moving rats implanted with permanent intra-atrial cannulae. It has recently been shown that ether stress raises the circulating prolactin concentration by stimulating PRF secretion. The ether stress elevated prolactin concentration from 100 to 400 ng/ml in the estradiol-implanted rat and from 10 to 40 ng/ml in the normal male. Thus, the ether stress elevated the prolactin concentration 4 times over the basal level in both normal male and estradiol-implanted male rats, implying that the physiological role of the PRF is not changed by the estradiol implantation. A bolus injection of pimozide (1 mg/kg) elevated the plasma prolactin concentration in both the normal and estradiol-implanted male with an initial surge followed by descent to a maintained plateau level. This plateau level in the estradiol-primed rat was 600 ng/ml and in the nonprimed male rat, 50 ng/ml. The ratio of the plateau concentration over the basal level was 4 times for both groups, suggesting that the physiological role of the PIF in the estradiol-implanted rat is not different from that in the normal male rat. It is known that TRH not only stimulates TSH secretion but will stimulate prolactin secretion as well. A very large dose (0.6 mg/kg) of TRH elevated prolactin concentration 6-fold in the estradiol-implanted rat but stimulate little prolactin secretion in the normal male rat. Since ether exposure appears to stimulate prolactin secretion in both estradiol-primed and non-primed male rats through PRF secretion, while TRH was not able to stimulate a significant amount of prolactin secretion in the normal male rat, we concluded that TRH acts to stimulate prolactin secretion in estradiol-primed rats but through a different mechanism than that operating for PRF.