Gonadotrophin Content of Pituitary Glands of Testosterone-Sterilized Rats1

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Abstract
Five-day-old female rats were injected with 100 [mu]g of testosterone propionate to produce the syndrome of ovulatory failure, polycystic ovaries and constant vaginal cornification. LH [luteinizing hormone] glands of testosterone-sterilized rats (TSR) and of untreated control rats from 15 to 350 days of age were compared using the ovarian ascorbic acid depletion and the immature mouse uterine weight methods, respectively. At all ages, differences in pituitary gonadotropin were evident. These differences were most striking before sexual maturation. In both groups, the LH and total gonadotropin rose to a maximum between 21 and 28 days and dropped precipitately to a minimum at the time of vaginal opening. However, the gonadotropins of the TSR at their peak failed to reach as high a level as in the normals and did not decline to as low a level at the time of vaginal opening. Normal adult rats had cyclic changes in both LH and total gonadotropin content of pituitaries, with highest values in proestrus and lowest in estrus. LH values of TSR were as low as or lower and the total gonadotropin was somewhat higher than those or comparable normal animals in estrus.