Effects of zinc and cadmium administration on pituitary hormone secretion in adult male rats

The present studies investigated the significance of glucoprivic metabolic signals, particularly those of central origin, to the regulation of pituitary luteinizing hormone (LH). Groups of gonadectomized (GDX) adult male rats were treated with 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), an inhibitor of glycolysis, by either intravenous (50, 100, or 200 mg/kg) or intracerebroventricular (5, 20, or 100 microg/rat) administration. Systemic drug treatment caused a significant decrease in mean plasma LH levels compared with saline-treated controls. Intracerebroventricular administration of 2-DG was also efficacious in suppressing circulating LH; animals treated with either of the two highest doses of the drug exhibited a significant reduction in plasma LH. In vitro studies examined direct effects of 2-DG on pituitary gonadotrope secretory activity. Exposure of anterior pituitary tissue to 2-DG during short-term perfusion had no significant impact upon either basal or gonadotropin-releasing hormone-stimulated LH release. Finally, groups of GDX rats were pretreated by intracerebroventricular administration of either the nonselective opioid receptor antagonist, naltrexone, or the selective mu-opioid receptor antagonist, beta-funaltrexamine (beta-FNA), before intravenous injection of 2-DG. Both receptor antagonists were observed to attenuate the suppressive effects of 2-DG on circulating LH in these animals. In summary, treatment of GDX rats with the glucose antimetabolite, 2-DG, decreased plasma LH, suggesting that metabolic signaling of cellular glucose oxidation is of physiological importance to the regulation of pituitary hormone secretion. Findings that plasma LH was diminished in animals treated intracerebroventricularly with 2-DG implicate central glucoprivic receptors in neuroendocrine mechanisms governing the reproductive endocrine axis. Attenuation of 2-DG-induced decreases in circulating LH by opioid receptor antagonists suggests that these receptors, particularly the mu-subtype, mediate central effects of glucoprivation on circulating LH.

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Impaired osmoregulatory responses in rats with area postrema lesions

AJP Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology ◽

10.1152/ajpregu.1999.277.1.r209 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 277 (1) ◽

pp. R209-R219 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Kathleen S. Curtis ◽

Wan Huang ◽

Alan F. Sved ◽

Joseph G. Verbalis ◽

Edward M. Stricker

Keyword(s):

Adult Male ◽

Sodium Excretion ◽

Area Postrema ◽

Hormone Secretion ◽

Male Rats ◽

Salt Appetite ◽

Solitary Tract ◽

Nacl Solution ◽

Water Ingestion ◽

Nacl Load

Area postrema lesions (APX) in adult male rats produced a robust spontaneous intake of 0.5 M NaCl, as reported previously. The largest NaCl intakes (up to 108 ml/day) were observed when there was little incidental damage in the medial subnucleus of the nucleus of the solitary tract adjacent to the caudal and middle portions of the area postrema. Rats with discrete APX also drank substantial amounts of 0.5 M NaCl when access to saline was restricted to 7 h/day (up to 30 ml in 1 h, 48 ml in 7 h). Such large NaCl intakes stimulated considerable water ingestion and renal sodium excretion, but together these responses usually were insufficient for osmoregulation during the 7-h test period. After systemic administration of hypertonic NaCl solution, rats with APX excreted less Na+ in urine and secreted less vasopressin and oxytocin than control rats did. The prominent salt appetite, insufficient thirst and natriuresis in response to an ingested NaCl load, and blunted natriuresis and neurohypophysial hormone secretion in response to an injected NaCl load, all indicate that osmoregulatory responses are impaired in rats after APX.

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AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF OESTROGEN ON THE THYROID GLAND OF CASTRATED ADULT MALE RATS

Journal of Endocrinology ◽

10.1677/joe.0.0400397 ◽

1968 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

pp. 397-408 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

J. F. BITHELL ◽

K. BROWN-GRANT

Keyword(s):

Thyroid Gland ◽

Rate Constant ◽

Adult Male ◽

Time Course ◽

Hormone Secretion ◽

Male Rats ◽

Male Rat ◽

Exit Rate ◽

Experimental Conditions

SUMMARY The uptake of 131I by the thyroid gland of the castrated adult male rat is increased 24 hr. and is maximal 48 hr. after the injection of a single dose of 50 μg. oestradiol. The response is not dose-dependent between 25 and 1600 μg. The thyroid:serum (T:S) concentration ratio for 131I is also increased by oestradiol with a time-course similar to the changes in uptake, but release of 131I-labelled hormone from the gland in vivo and radioactive phosphate uptake were not affected. Analysis of the kinetics of 131I accumulation by the blocked gland show that the effects on 131I uptake and T:S ratio were due to an increase in the clearance rate with a possible associated decrease in the exit rate constant for iodide from the gland to the blood. Under the conditions of these experiments, the effects of oestradiol are not consistent with their being produced by an increase in pituitary thyrotrophic hormone secretion; a direct action on the gland appears likely. These conclusions apply solely to the experimental conditions described here and do not provide the basis for any generalization about the action of oestrogens on the thyroid gland. The method of analysis developed for the estimation of the unilateral clearance constant and the exit rate constant, together with their standard deviations, is presented in an appendix.

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