EFFECT OF NEONATAL ANDROGENIZATION ON LUTEINIZING HORMONE, FOLLICLE-STIMULATING HORMONE, PROLACTIN AND TESTOSTERONE LEVELS IN MALE RATS

Abstract

Department of Neuroendocrinology, Centro de Investigaciones Médicas Albert Einstein (CIMAE), Luis Viale 2831, Buenos Aires, Argentina and *Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (Received 18 January 1977) It is generally accepted that the administration of androgens to female rats in the neonatal period suppresses cyclic gonadotrophin release and a tonic gonadotrophin release occurs (Barraclough, 1966; Gorski, 1971). The tonic or male gonadotrophin pattern characteristically shows higher levels of plasma and pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and serum prolactin compared with female rats (Johnson, 1967, 1971; Kragt & Ganong, 1968; Neill, 1972). In spite of the fact that the neonatal administration of androgens also induces changes in the reproductive physiology of adult male rats (Johnson & Witscht, 1963; Johnson, Yasuda & Sridharan, 1964; Morrison & Johnson, 1966), the effect of androgenization on gonadotrophin secretion in this sex is not clear. The purpose of the present study