ADENOHYPOPHYSEAL LH CONTENT IN NORMAL, ANDROGEN-STERILIZED AND PROGESTERONE-PRIMED STERILE FEMALE RATS

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Abstract
We have previously suggested that the failure of the androgen-sterilized persistent-oestrous rats to ovulate, following electrical stimulation of the median eminence structures of the hvpothalamus, is due to an insufficiency in adenohypophyseal LH concentration. Using the ovarian ascorbic acid technique for quantitative determination of pituitary LH content, the present studies have demonstrated that the sterile rat pituitary gland contains one-third the LH content of the normal proestrous gland. Furthermore, not only dose progesterone priming of this persistent-oestrous rat result in a 75% increase in LH concentration, but on hypothalamic stimulation sufficient LH is released to induce ovulation. The decrease in LH concentration which accompanies ovulation in the progesterone- primed, sterile rat is approximately 45% of the total gland content as compared with a 51% decrease in pituitary content in the normal cyclic rat.