Effect of neonatal androgen on the activity of peptidases in the rat brain inactivating luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone.

The activity of peptidase enzymes in different brain areas inactivating luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) was investigated in normal male and female rats treated neonatally with androgen. Of the two fractions containing peptidase activity, changes were found only in the supernatant (soluble/cytoplasmic) fraction and were restricted to the hypothalamus and cortex. In both these brain areas, peptidase activity was considerably higher in androgen-treated than in normal female rats; there was no significant difference between activity in male rats and the androgen-treated female rats. These findings indicate that neonatal androgen produces masculinization of the mechanisms responsible for LH-RH inactivation in the hypothalamus which may reflect changes observed elsewhere in gonadotropin secretion in androgen-treated female rats. The changes in peptidase activity in the cortex may infer that sexual differentiation of the brain under the influence of androgen is not limited to the hypothalamus and can be manifested at extrahypothalamic sites within the central nervous system.