Testosterone maintains pituitary and serum FSH and spermatogenesis in gonadotrophin-releasing hormone antagonist-suppressed rats

Abstract

ABSTRACT Groups of adult male rats were treated continuously for 30 days with either vehicle or the potent gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist, (N-Ac-d-Nal(2)1,d-pCl-Phe2,d-Trp3,d-hArg (Et2)6,d-Ala10)-GnRH (RS 68439; 35 μg/day). In addition, groups of vehicle- and antagonist-treated rats received s.c. testosterone implants sufficient to maintain serum testosterone concentrations 3·5- to 5-fold higher than those of vehicle-treated control rats. After 30 days of antagonist treatment serum LH, FSH and testosterone concentrations were at or below the detection limits of their respective assays and pituitary FSH content and GnRH receptor binding were reduced, relative to control animals, by 77 and 98% respectively. Testis weight in antagonist-treated rats was reduced by 75% and spermatogenesis was suppressed to an extent comparable to that observed in hypophysectomized rats. Testosterone, which caused a 40% reduction in serum FSH relative to control animals, prevented the antagonist-induced fall in both serum and pituitary FSH, but not GnRH receptors, below that observed in the vehicle plus testosterone-treated group. Furthermore, spermatogenesis in the antagonist plus testosterone-treated group was indistinguishable from that observed in control animals. It is concluded that testosterone is capable of maintaining serum and pituitary FSH levels in vivo, under conditions which presumably render the pituitary insensitive to hypothalamic GnRH. J. Endocr. (1986) 108, 101–107