Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist stimulates milt fluidity and plasma concentrations of 17,20beta-dihydroxylated and 5beta-reduced, 3alpha-hydroxylated C21 steroids in male plaice (Pleuronectes platessa).

Spermiating male plaice were caught in the North Sea and acclimatised to laboratory conditions. In two experiments, males were injected intramuscularly with either microspheres or pellets containing gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa). Blood was sampled at 2- to 5-day intervals. Individual blood plasma specimens were assayed for testosterone, 5beta-reduced, 3alpha-hydroxy ("5beta,3alpha") steroids and sulphated 17, 20beta-dihydroxy ("17,20beta") steroids. Pooled plasma samples were also assayed for free and sulphated 17, 20beta-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one, free 11-ketotestosterone, and glucuronidated testosterone and 11-ketotestosterone. Plasma concentrations of all steroids were significantly elevated by GnRHa from 2 to 5 days onwards following treatment. The most marked changes occurred in the concentrations of the sulphated 17,20beta steroids, which comprised approximately equal amounts of 5beta-pregnane-3alpha,17,20beta-triol 20-sulphate (3alpha,17, 20beta-P-5beta-S) and 5beta-pregnane-3beta,17,20beta-triol 20-sulphate, rising from ca. 1 to 30-80 ng/ml in the first and from ca. 8 to 80 ng/ml in the second experiment. Concentrations of 5beta, 3alpha steroids matched those of 17,20beta steroids in one experiment. However, in the other experiment, the two RIAs yielded highly disparate results in about 50% of the fish (including males in the control group). The plasma of these fish contained excessive amounts of 5beta,3alpha-immunoreactive material between 10 and 25 days. This material was identified as 3alpha,17, 21-trihydroxy-5beta-pregnan-20-one 21-sulphate (a metabolite of 11-deoxycortisol). All previous studies have indicated that when plasma concentrations of this steroid are high, so are those of 3alpha,17,20beta-P-5beta-S. This is the first indication that these steroids are regulated independently. In a third experiment, milt fluidity and production were assessed at 10, 15, and 25 days following GnRHa implantation. Milt volume and fluidity were significantly enhanced by the GnRHa treatment.