Maintenance of gonadotrophs in pituitary autografts under the kidney capsules of female rats given sex hormones or LRH.

Female Sprague-Dawley rats were hypophysectomized and the anterior pituitary gland was immediately placed under the kidney capsule. For 1 week after surgery, groups of pituitary autograft-bearing animals were treated with twice-daily injections of estradiol 17 beta (E), progesterone (P), estradiol 17 beta and progesterone (EP), or luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LRH). Within 2--4 hours following the last injection, the pituitary grafts were removed and placed into organ culture. They were maintained in culture with or without added LRH (10(-7) M) for 1 hour at 37 degrees C. The culture media were then frozen for later radioimmunoassay of FSH and LH. The tissues were kept in culture for an additional 24 hours, at which time they were fixed and prepared for immunocytochemistry or electron microscopy. Results showed that treatment of the animals with E, EP, or LRH enhanced the release of FSH and LH into the culture media, and that the release of these hormones was increased further by acute incubation with LRH. The ultrastructure of the gonadotrophs was well maintained by treating the animals with E or the combination of E and P or with LRH. Graft tissue from animals treated with LRH, which was incubated subsequently for 24 hours with LRH, showed the best maintenance of gonadotroph morphology. This experimental procedure should be useful for obtaining gonadotrophs for use in establishing gonadotroph cell lines.