Pituitary gonadotropin content in gonadectomized rats. Immunoassay measurements influenced by extraction solvent and testosterone replacement.

Increasing interest in events regulating gonadotropin synthesis and secretion led to the reexamination, by radioimmunoassay (RIA), of the pituitary content of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). In a preliminary experiment, the importance of the composition of the solvent used to homogenize pituitaries on the detection of LH and FSH was demonstrated by RIA. Experiment 1 demonstrated that a drop in pituitary FSH occurred acutely following gonadectomy in males, but not in females. Experiment 2 tested whether this decline resulted from loss of testosterone or inhibin. Males were castrated and treated daily with oil or testosterone propionate, porcine follicular fluid, porcine serum, or testosterone plus follicular fluid for 2 to 14 days. Castration lowered pituitary FSH at 2, 4, and 6 days. Follicular fluid suppressed serum FSH, but not LH, and did not prevent the fall in pituitary FSH. Testosterone blocked the rise of serum LH and FSH and prevented the decline in pituitary FSH.