Luteotropic and luteolytic effects of oxytocin in the porcine corpus luteum.

The presence and the release of oxytocin (OT) by corpora lutea (CL) of a number of species (Wathes et al. 1986, Watkins and Choy 1988) including ruminants (Ivell and Richter 1984, Hirst et al. 1986, Rodgers et al. 1983, Sawyer et al. 1986), primates (Dawood and Khan-Dawood 1986, Khan-Dawood 1987, Maas et al. 1992, Khan-Dawood et al. 1993), and the pig (Pitzel et al. 1984, Einspanier et al. 1991, Jarry et al. 1992) have been amply verified. Conflicting results concerning the effects of OT on steroidogenesis have been published; the peptide has been shown to be luteotrophic (Sawyer et al. 1986, Maas et al. 1992, Jarry et al. 1990), to have no effects (Rodgers et al. 1985) or to be luteolytic (Auletta et al. 1984, Auletta et al. 1988, Pitzel et al. 1988) and it appears that this confusion is only in part due to species differences but also the age of the luteal tissue seems to be of crucial importance for the understanding of the effects of OT (Schams et al. 1983, Wuttke et al. 1993, 1994). In the present contribution we will focus largely on our results obtained in the pig and where applicable, compare them with those obtained in other species. We will thus demonstrate that OT is released by luteal cells (Jarry et al. 1990, Einspanier et al. 1991, Jarry et al. 1992) and that luteal cells have OT receptors (Sernia et al. 1989, Pitzel et al. 1993a) which mediate the effects of the peptide on steroidogenesis. Finally, we will address the question whether OT is inhibitory or stimulatory to progesterone (P) and estradiol (E2) release, and we will come to the conclusion that OT is both luteotropic and luteolytic (Wuttke et al. 1993, 1994). The CL of all species investigated so far consists of two steroidogenic cell types. The so-called large luteal cells stem from follicular granulosa cells and they appear to be barely responsive to luteinizing hormone (LH)/human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) but they are highly receptive to prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) (Hansel and Dowd 1986, Pitzel et al. 1990). Furthermore, they appear to produce OT (Rodgers et al. 1983, Theodosis et al. 1986). The small luteal cells are believed to derive from the follicular theca cells (Hansel and Dowd 1986, Pitzel et al. 1990). They are LH-receptive but synthesize few, if any, regulatory peptides. In the last few years it has become increasingly evident that cells deriving from the white blood cell line are involved in processes such as ovulation and luteolysis. Of crucial importance for the understanding of luteolysis is the morphological observation that macrophages invade the CL at the time of luteal regression (Adashi 1990, Paavola 1977, Kirsch et al. 1981).