Facilitation or inhibition of the estradiol-induced gonadotropin surge in the immature rat by progesterone: regulation of GnRH and LH messenger RNAs and activation of GnRH neurons.

Abstract

We have developed and extensively characterized immature female rat models to demonstrate inhibition or facilitation of the estradiol (E2)-induced gonadotropin surge by progesterone (P). We show here that the surge of free alpha-subunit is regulated similarly by P in these models. To investigate the possibility that P alters the biosynthesis of GnRH and/or LH, we measured levels of LH subunit mRNAs by Northern blot hybridization and GnRH mRNA by a solution hybridization-RNase protection assay. In the P inhibition model, alpha-subunit mRNA was significantly decreased when P was administered together with E2 for 32 or 48 h, and LHbeta, at 29 h. In the facilitation model, neither alpha-subunit nor LHbeta mRNA increased with premature and enhanced release of LH and free alpha-subunit. Levels of GnRH mRNA in E2-treated rats were significantly higher on the afternoon of the LH surge than on that or the following morning. There was no effect of P on GnRH mRNA levels, however, before, during, or after the LH surge in either paradigm. The time course of activation of GnRH neurons in P-facilitated rats was determined by double-label immunocytochemistry for GnRH and cFos. When serum LH concentrations were basal there was no expression of cFos in GnRH neurons. LH secretion in P-facilitated rats was initiated at 14.00 h and remained elevated until at least 19.00 h. During this time 63-78% of GnRH neurons were cFos positive. Both serum LH concentrations and the percentage of cFos-activated GnRH neurons were significantly lower in control rats treated with E2 alone than in those treated also with P. 1) suppression of LH and free alpha-subunit secretion by P can be accounted for at least partly by suppression of alpha-subunit mRNA levels; 2) P facilitation is not associated with changes in LH subunit or GnRH mRNA levels; 3) the large proportion of cFos-positive GnRH neurons in P-facilitated rats closely parallels increases in serum LH concentrations but is not accompanied by changes in GnRH mRNA levels. It is likely, therefore, that P acts in the facilitation model to trigger release of pre-existing GnRH stores by altering synthesis or activity of neuro-transmitters/neuropeptides involved in GnRH regulation and/or release of LH stores by altering, for example, pituitary responsiveness to GnRH (including self-priming) and components of the LH secretory apparatus. Similar possibilities may also obtain for the blockade of the gonadotropin surge in the inhibition model.