COMPARISON OF FOLLICLE-STIMULATING HORMONE AND LUTEINIZING HORMONE SECRETION AFTER ELECTRICAL STIMULATION OF THE PREOPTIC PART OF THE HYPOTHALAMUS IN FEMALE RATS ANAESTHETIZED WITH ETHYL CARBAMATE OR SODIUM PENTOBARBITONE

A.R.C. Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham, Cambridge, CB2 4AT (Received 17 January 1978) For over 30 years, the method by which the brain regulates the secretion of gonadotrophic hormones has been studied by electrical stimulation of those parts of the central nervous system thought to be implicated in the control process. Much of the work has been performed on the female rat. In this species, anaesthetic doses of sodium pentobarbitone, administered immediately before the pro-oestrous 'critical period', block the preovulatory surge of luteinizing hormone (LH) for 24 h. The same treatment also reduces the early phase of the pro-oestrous secretion of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH; Daane & Parlow, 1971). Electrical stimulation of the preoptic part of the hypothalamus can overcome this blocking effect and analysis of the optimum parameters required to restore normal secretion of gonadotrophins may give some insight into the endogenous process (e.g. Everett, 1965; Fink & Aiyer, 1974;