Effects of thymulin on spontaneous puberty and gonadotrophin-induced ovulation in prepubertal normal and hypothymic mice

1999 ◽  
Vol 163 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Hinojosa ◽  
R Chavira ◽  
R Dominguez ◽  
P Rosas

The effects of thymulin administration beginning on days 19 or 24 of age on spontaneous puberty and gonadotrophin-induced ovulation were analysed in female normal and hypothymic mice. In normal and hypothymic mice, the daily administration of thymulin at 24 days of age resulted in a delay in the age of vaginal opening, with an increase in serum progesterone levels. Normal mice treated with 200 ng thymulin beginning on day 19 of age and injected with pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin (PMSG) 24 h later had an increase in ovulation rate, number of ova shed and weight of the ovaries. None of the hypothymic mice treated with thymulin on day 19 and PMSG on day 20 ovulated. PMSG treatment on day 25 induced ovulation in hypothymic mice. When these animals were injected previously with 200 ng thymulin, the number of ova shed by ovulating animals was lower than in PMSG-treated animals. Administration of thymulin and sequential injection of PMSG and human chorionic gonadotrophin 54 h later resulted in an increase in ovulatory response in comparison with those receiving only PMSG. The results suggest that thymulin plays a role in the regulation of spontaneous puberty through its effects on adrenal and ovarian endocrine functions. The increase in the ovarian PMSG response-treated animals, previously given thymulin, showed that this thymic hormone participates in the regulation of gonadotrophin secretion mechanisms and seems to be dose- and age-dependent. In hypothymic mice, neuroendocrine mechanisms regulating puberty are different from those of normal mice.

1971 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-510
Author(s):  
K. J. BETTERIDGE

SUMMARY In rabbits, an anti-pig-luteinizing hormone serum (anti-pig-LH) inhibited coitally-induced ovulation when injected immediately post coitum and this effect persisted for at least 5 days. When administered 90 min after mating, anti-pig-LH had very little inhibitory effect on ovulation and did not prevent the establishment of normal pregnancies. Anti-pig-LH also blocked human chorionic gonadotrophin-induced ovulation in rabbits, evidently by direct cross reaction. Sufficient anti-pig-LH to block ovulation in rabbits inhibited neither ovulation nor conception in four guinea-pigs when injected 0 to 4 days before vaginal opening.


1983 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heigo Kohda ◽  
Takahide Mori ◽  
Toshio Nishimura ◽  
Akira Kambegawa

Serial injections of a mixture of prostaglandin (PG) E2 and F2α 0, 2, 4, and 6 h after simultaneous injection of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and indomethacin incompletely restored the ovulation that would have been blocked by indomethacin in immature rats treated with pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin followed by hCG. Serial injections of another mixture of PGE2 and PGF2α 6, 8, 10 and 12 h after simultaneous injection of hCG and indomethacin similarly reversed, in part, the inhibitory effects of indomethacin on hCG-induced ovulation. In contrast, serial injections of the mixtures of PGE2 and PGF2α 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 h after simultaneous injection of hCG and indomethacin completely restored the indomethacin-blocked ovulation, suggesting that the prostaglandins mediate the action of hCG on ovulation both in the earlier and later stages of the preovulatory process. Six hours after simultaneous injection of hCG and indomethacin serial injections of a mixture of PGE2 and PGF2α reproduced the acute and temporary increase in concentrations of progesterone and testosterone in plasma which would have been abolished by indomethacin. Progesterone given concurrently with hCG and indomethacin partially antagonized the inhibitory action of indomethacin on ovulation. Serial injections of a' mixture of PGE2 and PGF2α 6, 8, 10 and 12 h after concurrent administration of progesterone with hCG and indomethacin completely restored the indomethacin-blocked ovulation, suggesting that progesterone can substitute the action of prostaglandins injected serially in the first half of the preovulatory process. It was concluded that the co-operation of progesterone in the earlier stage and of prostaglandins in the later stage of the preovulatory interval is required to mediate the action of hCG on ovulation.


1967 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-NP ◽  
Author(s):  
PUSHPA SETH ◽  
M. R. N. PRASAD

SUMMARY Superovulation was induced in palm squirrels by the administration of gonadotrophins. The regimen of treatment effective in inducing ovulation was 60 i.u. pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin (PMS) administered in three doses of 20 i.u. on days 1, 4 and 7, followed by a single injection of 40 i.u. human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) on day 14. The same schedule of PMS and HCG administration induced ovulation in mature and immature squirrels both during the breeding season and the period of sexual quiescence. Ovulation did not occur in PMS-treated females if HCG was not administered. The period required for follicular growth before the follicles responded to the ovulatory stimulus of HCG was 13–14 days; the interval for follicular maturation leading to the release of the ovum was approximately 24 hr. Variations in the numbers of ova shed by different groups of females are related to the phase of the reproductive cycle and the age of the squirrels.


1964 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. WELLS ◽  
T. KHOSLA ◽  
P. S. BROWN

SUMMARY An assay method depending on the induction of ovulation in immature mice has been applied to the assay of human urinary gonadotrophin, human chorionic gonadotrophin, pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin, and sheep and rat pituitary gonadotrophins. Valid parallel line assays were obtained in all cases, and the sensitivity and precision of the assay were such as to make it suitable for application to clinical studies. Experiments with mixtures of gonadotrophins, and the use of a barbiturate to suppress gonadotrophin secretion, indicate that the assay was not specific for LH. It is suggested that the lack of specificity may be due in part to the secretion of a variable amount of gonadotrophin by the pituitaries of the test animals.


1978 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 492-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Robertson ◽  
H. Suginami ◽  
H. Hernandez Montes ◽  
C. P. Puri ◽  
S. K. Choi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The presence of an hCG-like material in urinary and pituitary extracts and plasma obtained from non-pregnant subjects was investigated. Two assay methods were used to detect this material following fractionation of pituitary and urinary extracts by gel filtration (Ultrogel AcA 54) and/or isoelectrofocusing: a) a radioimmunoassay employing an antiserum raised against a specific sequence of the carboxy terminal region (residues 115– 145) of the β-subunit of hCG, and b) an in vitro bioassay method which measures both hLH and hCG activities. The fractionation procedures employed provide a satisfactory separation of highly purified hCG and hLH preparations. In the pituitary and urinary extracts hCGβ-peptide-like immunoactive (PIA) material was found consistently, which co-eluted with iodinated hCG following gel filtration and possessed pI values similar to those of hCG when subjected to isoelectrofocusing. The PIA material also exhibited in vitro biological activity similar to that shown by hLH and hCG. Detectable levels of immunoactive material were also found in plasma; however, the plasma levels of this PIA material were not influenced by classical endocrine measures such as the stimulation or inhibition of gonadotrophin secretion. The low levels of this material in plasma precluded its further characterization by gel filtration or electrofocusing. Whereas the present data and those reported by other investigators seem to suggest the presence of some hCG-like material in urinary and pituitary extracts and possibly in plasma of non-pregnant subjects, it is emphasized that the available evidence is not sufficiently conclusive to exclude other interpretations as to the nature of this material.


1983 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 406-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalle Jääkeläinen ◽  
Seppo Markkanen ◽  
Hannu Rajaniemi

Abstract. The subcellular distribution of 125I-labelled human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in preovulatory rat granulosa cells was studied in vivo. Pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin-pretreated immature female rats received an iv injection of [125I]hCG a few hours before the endogenous preovulatory gonadotrophin surge. The animals were killed at 2 or 6 h after the [125I]hCG injections. Light microscope autoradiographs showed that the mural granulosa cells of large follicles were the most highly labelled cells in the ovaries. Electron microscope autoradiography was used to study the subcellular distribution of radioactivity in the mural granulosa cells. At 2 h 45% of the counted silver grains were associated with the plasma membrane and 10% with the lysosomes, at 6 h the values were 51% and 9%, respectively. The distribution of the observed silver grains was compared with the generated expected source to grain pairs by computerized linear multiple regression analysis. The magnitudes of the regression coefficients revealed that the plasma membrane and the lysosomes were the only specifically 125I-labelled organelles, that a few radioactive molecules were located diffusely over the cytoplasm at 2 h and that the 125I-radioactivity of the nuclei was negligible. The present results suggest that preovulatory rat granulosa cells are in vivo able to internalize into lysosomes [125I]hCG initially bound to LH/hCG receptors of the plasma membrane.


1980 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALBERT RATNER ◽  
G. K. WEISS ◽  
CAROLYN R. SANBORN

Ovarian tissue from immature rats treated with pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin (PMSG) or PMSG and human chorionic gonadotrophin was incubated in Medium 199. Stimulation of the formation of cyclic AMP in follicular and luteal tissue by terbutaline (10−5 mol/l), a selective β2-agonist, was blocked by butoxamine (10−5 mol/l), a selective β2-antagonist, whereas practolol (10−5 mol/l), a selective β1-antagonist, was ineffective. Propranolol (10−5 mol/l), a non-selective β-antagonist, butoxamine nor practolol affected the increase in cyclic AMP promoted by the addition of 1 μg LH. Stimulation of the production of progesterone in both follicular and luteal tissue by terbutaline was blocked by butoxamine, but not by practolol. These findings indicated that β-adrenergic stimulation of ovarian cyclic AMP and progesterone is mediated by β2-adrenergic receptors.


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