ÉTUDE DE L'ACTIVITÉ BIOLOGIQUE IN VITRO DES HORMONES GONADOTROPES

1963 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Gospodarowicz ◽  
J. Legault-Démare

ABSTRACT Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) and lactogenic hormone (LTH or prolactin) were found practically inactive on the incorporation of 14Cacetate into cholesterol of normal rat corpus luteum in vitro. On the contrary, when added simultaneously to the incubation medium, they increased by 90% the labeling of cholesterol. When pseudopregnancy corpora lutea were used, HCG alone stimulated to the same amount, but no stimulation was observed with LTH alone. These results show that the stimulation of cholesterol synthesis is produced by a synergic action of LTH and HCG, LTH being introduced either in vivo (pseudopregnancy) or in vitro.

1965 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar J. Schoen ◽  
Leo T. Samuels

ABSTRACT The effects of in vivo administration of corticotrophin (ACTH) and human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) on rat testes were studied. HCG, administered for 14 days to young rats, led to testicular interstitial cell hypertrophy and hyperplasia, accompanied by stimulation of in vitro testicular androgen production, as manifested by increased 17α-hydroxylase and 17β-desmolase enzyme activities, with no clear-cut effect on 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity. The findings in ACTH-treated animals were similar to those in the saline-treated controls. The lack of influence of ACTH on the testicular enzymes involved in steroid biosynthesis is consonant with the concept that ACTH-dependent bilateral testicular tumours occurring in boys with congenital adrenocortical hyperplasia arise from »adrenocortical rest cells« rather than from testicular interstitial cells.


1987 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. E. Webley ◽  
J. P. Hearn

ABSTRACT The effect of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and melatonin on the local production of progesterone by the marmoset corpus luteum was investigated in vivo using a perfusion cannula system. Progesterone secretion was measured in 10-min fractions of buffer which had been perfused through the corpus luteum at a flow rate of 70 μl/min for a maximum of 3 h in anaesthetized animals. Two corpora lutea were cannulated in each animal; one for perfusion of test material and the other for perfusion with buffer alone as a control. Perfusion with hCG (25 i.u./ml), investigated as a positive control, produced a marked stimulation of progesterone secretion which increased 10–20 min from the start of perfusion and reached a peak after 30–60 min. A stimulation of progesterone was also observed after perfusion with melatonin (860 pmol/l). The response was evident within 10–30 min of the hormone reaching the corpus luteum and was similar in magnitude to that observed for hCG. The ability of melatonin to stimulate progesterone secretion supports previous in-vitro studies and suggests an ovarian action for melatonin in the primate. The local perfusion system described may have potential uses in studies of luteal function related to aspects of infertility or regulation of fertility. J. Endocr. (1987) 112, 449–457


1978 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-252
Author(s):  
V. V. PATWARDHAN ◽  
A. LANTHIER

Laboratoire d'Endocrinologie, Hôpital Notre-Dame et Département de Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada (Received 28 June 1978) Cyclic AMP has been implicated as an intermediate in some of the actions of luteinizing hormone (LH) on ovarian tissues, such as stimulation of steroidogenesis (LeMaire & Marsh, 1975). Both in vitro (Marsh, Butcher, Savard & Sutherland, 1966) and in vivo (Armstrong, Dorrington & Robinson, 1976), stimulation with LH results in a rapid increase in the amount of cyclic AMP in ovarian tissues, which precedes the LH-induced increase in steroidogenesis. Recently, studies on rat ovaries (Grinwich, Ham, Hichens & Behrman, 1976; Ratner, 1976; Ratner & Sanborn, 1976) have indicated that the ovarian tissue content of cyclic GMP may also be regulated by LH, but in a direction opposite to that of cyclic AMP. In the rabbit, Goff & Major (1975) have shown that administration of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) causes a biphasic increase


1981 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. RICHARDSON ◽  
G. M. MASSON

Cell suspensions were prepared from tissue samples of human corpora lutea obtained during the mid- and late-luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Both oestradiol and progesterone production by dispersed cells were stimulated by similar concentrations of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG). As the degree of stimulation of production by hCG was greater for progesterone than for oestradiol (five- to tenfold compared with two- to threefold higher than basal production), the ratio of progesterone to oestradiol produced varied according to the level of trophic stimulation. A comparison of cell suspensions prepared from mid- and late-luteal phase corpora lutea, exposed to the same concentration of hCG (10 i.u./ml) in vitro, did not reveal a shift to oestradiol production in the late-luteal phase. Provision of additional testosterone during incubation raised the level of oestradiol production by dispersed luteal cells. At an optimum concentration of testosterone (1 μmol/l), oestradiol synthesis was not raised further in the presence of hCG or N6, O2-dibutyryl cyclic AMP, suggesting a lack of induction or activation of the aromatase system by gonadotrophin in short-term cultures. Basal and stimulated levels of progesterone production were not significantly impaired in the presence of testosterone.


1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Iles ◽  
T. Chard

ABSTRACT Material with the immunochemical characteristics of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) is produced by bladder tumour cells in vitro and in vivo. In order to characterize this material further, media were collected from 17 cell cultures (three choriocarcinomas, seven bladder carcinomas and seven 'normal' urothelium). The hCG-like material was compared with pregnancy hCG and purified α- and β-subunits by specific radioimmunoassays. Media were also submitted to affinity chromatography and the fractions further analysed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. It was shown that both the neoplastic and normal urothelium produced only free β-subunit-like material. This urothelial 'β-hCG' has the same molecular weight and electrophoretic mobility as that present in the intact hCG of pregnancy.


1980 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. STORRING ◽  
ROSE E. GAINES-DAS ◽  
D. R. BANGHAM

The preparation and nature of the International Reference Preparation of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG) for Immunoassay (IRP), as well as that of a second batch of ampoules (HCG 75/589) prepared identically from the same HCG preparation, are described. A collaborative study of these materials was carried out by 11 laboratories in eight countries, using different bioassay and immunoassay methods. Using the various in-vivo and in-vitro bioassays and receptor assays, the mean log potency estimates for each method within each laboratory of the HCG content of ampoules of the IRP, in terms of the Second International Standard of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin for Bioassay (IS), were homogeneous and gave an overall weighted geometric mean (95% confidence limits) of 650 (632–669) International Units (i.u.)/ampoule. There was considerable heterogeneity of potency estimates of the IRP in terms of the IS both within and between many of the immunoassay systems (reflecting the impurity of the IS), and hence attempts to calibrate the IRP with immunoassay systems of different specificities were invalid. Immunoassay estimates of the HCG content of preparations of serum and urine, in terms of the IRP, showed considerable heterogeneity between assay systems (although the degree of this heterogeneity was no greater than that observed using the IS as standard), but the ranking order between preparations was consistent. Confirmation was obtained that contamination of the IRP with HCG-α and HCG-β subunits was insignificant. Accelerated degradation studies of the IRP stored at increased temperatures suggested that its stability under normal storage conditions would be satisfactory. It was agreed that the IRP was suitable to serve as an international reference preparation for immunoassay, and it was assigned a unitage of 650 i.u./ampoule on the basis of bioassay calibration. Since the ampoules of HCG (75/589) did not differ significantly from the IRP in any of the assay systems studied, it appeared to be equally suitable as a reference preparation. The International Reference Preparations of the α and β Subunits of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin for Immunoassay are also described.


Reproduction ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A Bramley ◽  
D Stirling ◽  
G S Menzies ◽  
D T Baird

Seasonally anoestrous Welsh Mountain ewes received 250 ng gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) every 2 h, with (Group 1;n= 13) or without (Group 2;n= 14) progesterone priming for 48 h. Fourteen control ewes (Group 3) were studied during the luteal phase in the breeding season. Animals in Group 4 (n= 12) received progesterone priming followed by 250 ng GnRH at increasing frequency for 72 h, while ewes in Group 5 (n= 13) were given three bolus injections of 30 μg GnRH at 90-min intervals. All treatment regimens induced ovulation. However, only corpora lutea (CL) from ewes in Group 3 (breeding season) or Group 4 exhibited normal luteal function. Luteal luteinizing hormone (LH) receptor levels were significantly higher on day 12 than day 4, and CL from groups with adequate CL (3 and 4) had significantly higher125I-human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG)-binding levels than the three groups with inadequate CL on day 12. LH-binding affinity was unchanged. Exogenous ovine LH (10 μg)in vivoon days 3 or 11 after ovulation induced a pulse of progesterone in ewes with adequate CL: however, ewes in Groups 1, 2 and 5 showed no significant response. Basal progesterone secretionin vitrowas significantly greater on day 4 than on day 12. Maximal steroidogenic responses of adequate and inadequate CL to hCG and to dibutyryl cyclic-3′,5′-AMP were similar at both stages of the luteal phase. However, the EC50for hCG on days 4 and 12 was 10-fold lower for groups with an adequate CL (0.1 IU hCG/ml) than for inadequate-CL groups (1 IU hCG/ml;P<0.05). Thus, in addition to the well-characterized premature sensitivity of GnRH-induced inadequate CL to endometrial luteolysin, we have shown (1) a marked decrease in total number of cells in the CL, a profound reduction in vascular surface area, and a decrease in mean large luteal cell volume (with no change in large luteal cell numbers), (2) decreased luteal LH receptor and progesterone content compared with adequate CL and (3) that CL that were becoming, or were destined to become, inadequate failed to respond to ovine LHin vivoand were 10-fold less sensitive to hCG in terms of luteal progesterone secretionin vitro.


1983 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. S. Tan ◽  
J. S. G. Biggs

The effects of prolactin on steroidogenesis were studied in dispersed luteal cells prepared from human corpora lutea of the menstrual cycle. Prolactin, at concentrations of 0·1–1000 ng/ml, had no effect on progesterone production by luteal cells during short-term incubation (3 h). However, in two out of five corpora lutea, higher concentrations of prolactin (100 and 1000 ng/ml) significantly reduced the oestradiol-17β production induced by human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG; 10 i.u./ml); lower doses of prolactin had little effect. In the remaining corpora lutea, prolactin failed to affect either basal or hCG-induced production of oestradiol-17β. These results are discussed in relation to the mechanism by which prolactin influences human ovarian function.


1969 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Preumont ◽  
I. D. Cooke ◽  
K. J. Ryan

ABSTRACT In vitro incubations of isolated porcine pre-ovulatory follicles, corpora lutea, and minced whole pre- and post-ovulatory ovaries were undertaken in an attempt to elucidate the pathways of oestrogen biosynthesis and steroid metabolism in the various cellular compartments of the porcine ovary. The conversion of radioactive acetate to cholesterol, the conversions of pregnenolone and progesterone to 16-hydroxyprogesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, oestrone and oestradiol and the conversion of pregnenolone to 17-hydroxypregnenolone were observed following incubation with pre-ovulatory follicles in vitro. No significant effect of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) added in vitro on steroid metabolism could be demonstrated. The conversions of dehydroepiandrosterone to oestradiol and 16-hydroxydehydroepiandrosterone to 16-hydroxyandrostenedione were obtained with corpora lutea in vitro. Pre-ovulatory whole ovarian mince incubations converted progesterone to 16-hydroxyprogesterone and androstenedione to oestrone. When 16-hydroxyandrostenedione, 16-hydroxyprogesterone and 16-hydroxydehydroepiandrosterone were incubated as substrates and/or formed in these various studies, no evidence for the formation of oestriol or other 16-oxygenated oestrogens could be demonstrated, although non-16 hydroxylated neutral steroids were aromatized in paired experiments.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document