Luteinizing Hormone (LH)-Releasing Hormone: Effects on Induction of LH, Follicle-Stimulating Hormone, and Prolactin Cell Differentiation*

Abstract

We investigated the influence of LHRH on the differentiation of gonadotrophs and lactotrophs in fetal pituitary glands transplanted beneath the renal capsules of adult hypophysectomized-orchidectomized hamsters (hosts). Hypophyses were removed from hamster fetuses at a gestational age of 14 days. Some of these were immediately fixed in Bouin's solution, and others were transplanted into the hosts. The hosts were injected sc twice daily with 1 microgram LHRH or vehicle for 16 days. Six hosts in each group were killed by decapitation 16 h after the last injection. Six 14-day-old normal male hamsters (age-matched to correspond to the age of the allografts at the time of the hosts' decapitation) also were decapitated. Sections of hypophyses in situ from fetal hamsters, from 14-day-old controls, and from allografts in each group were stained for LH, FSH, or PRL and with hematoxylin. No PRL-containing cells and very few LH or FSH cells (less than 0.025% of the adenohypophysial cell population) were observed in fetal pituitary glands. In allografts from the vehicle-treated hosts, 21.1% of adenohypophysial cells contained LH, but only 1.8% contained FSH. In allografts from LHRH-treated hosts, 28.0% and 22.9% of the adenohypophysial cells contained LH and FSH, respectively. Adenohypophyses that developed for the same length of time in situ had smaller percentages of adenohypophysial cells containing LH (23.8%) and FSH (15.5%) than the LHRH-treated group. LH-containing cells in allografts in the vehicle-treated hamsters, but not in the LHRH-treated animals, were reduced in size compared to those measured in situ. The number of lactotrophs in all allografted tissue was markedly reduced compared to that of lactotrophs in situ, and injection of LHRH into hamsters with allografts did not alter the percentage of adenohypophysial cells that were lactotrophs. These results suggest that in the hamster LHRH 1) plays an important role in stimulating the formation of immunoreactive FSH in the pituitary gland, 2) can increase the number of gonadotrophs that develop during the neonatal period, and 3) plays a role in controlling the size of gonadotrophs during development. The results also suggest that the development of lactotroph cell number requires close proximity to the hypothalamus and/or exposure to a neonatal environment. We found no evidence to support the view that LHRH, LH, or FSH stimulates immunoreactive lactotroph differentiation.