Abstract
This study examines the possibility of a feedback interaction between gonadal relaxin and the pituitary by investigating the impact of exogenous relaxin and ablation of endogenous with relaxin anti-relaxin serum on pituitary hormone secretion in vitro. Three wells were assigned to treatments: 0, 100 and 1000 ng ml-1 of relaxin, 1:100, 1:1000 and 1:10000 titer of anti-relaxin. Relaxin significantly enhanced prolactin (PRL) secretion (P < 0.05) in long-term culture but had no effect on luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone secretion. Relaxin anti-serum stimulated a dose dependent increase (P < 0.05) in gonadotropin secretion at 48, 72 and 96 h. Luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone increased two-fold in 48 h cultures in response to 1:100 anti-relaxin serum in comparison with untreated controls. Anti-relaxin serum at 1:100 completely suppressed PRL secretion after either 48, 72, and 96 h of culture. At 48 h all levels of anti-relaxin serum completely suppressed PRL secretion. These results indicate that endogenous relaxin may be involved at the adenohypophysial level in modulating gonadotropin and PRL release in the pig.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 239-247 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Animal reproduction science |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 1995 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This project was funded by a St. Cloud State University Faculty Research Grant 1993/94. Technical support was provided by S.L. Baker. Visual aids technical support was provided by Mary Craighton Shrode of SCSU. The relaxin and anti-relaxin serum used in this study was provided by Dr. C. Schwabe, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina.
Keywords
- Adenohypophysial cells
- Antirelaxin
- Gonadotropin
- Luteal function
- Pituitary
- Prolactin
- Relaxin