Hyperprolactinemia does not promote testicular recrudescence in photoregressed Siberian hamsters

Abstract

Serum prolactin (PRL) concentrations, as well as body, epididymal white adipose tissue (EWAT), and testes weights, decrease in Siberian hamsters ( Phodopus sungorus sungorus) following short-photoperiod exposure. Previously, we have shown that lesions of the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus (SCNx) block regression of the testes and decreases in body weight and EWAT caused by short day-like, timed daily subcutaneous melatonin infusions in pinealectomized Siberian hamsters and elevate dramatically serum PRL concentrations. We also have shown that SCNx, as well as lesions of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVNx) and an area immediately ventral to the PVN (subPVN), promote accelerated testicular recrudescence, increases in EWAT and body weights, and increases in serum PRL concentrations, in short-day (SD)-housed, photoregressed Siberian hamsters. The stimulation of the testes seen in these previous studies could have been due to the lesion-induced increases in serum PRL concentrations. Therefore, the purpose of the present experiment was to test whether experimentally induced hyperprolactinemia could stimulate testicular recrudescence. This was accomplished by giving photoregressed, SD-housed Siberian hamsters chronic subcutaneous infusions of ovine PRL (oPRL) to mimic either long-day- or lesion-induced serum concentrations of hamster prolactin (hPRL). No increase in testes, body, or EWAT weights were observed following 5 weeks of oPRL infusions in either group compared with their vehicle-infused counterparts. These data suggest that hyperprolactinemia was not solely responsible for the stimulation of testicular recrudescence in SCNx or PVNx photoregressed, or SCNx pinealectomized hamsters receiving timed melatonin infusions seen previously.