THE OVARIAN FOLLICLE OF THE SHEEPINHIBITION OF OESTROGEN SECRETION BY LUTEINIZING HORMONE

Abstract

SUMMARY The object of this study was to test the hypothesis that levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), comparable to those circulating at oestrus, inhibit oestrogen secretion from Graafian follicles of sheep. Three experimental approaches were used. Follicles maintained in organ culture secreted high levels of oestrogen into the medium throughout a 7-day culture period; almost no progesterone was secreted under such conditions. By contrast, oestrogen secretion declined precipitously and progesterone secretion increased rapidly after the addition of LH (0·25 μg–10 μg NIH-LH-S 17/ml) to the culture medium. In experiments combining in-vivo and in-vitro techniques, follicles were obtained from sheep from which the corpora lutea had been removed 24 h previously. The large follicles explanted from these sheep secreted high levels of oestrogen throughout the 7 days in culture. Insignificant amounts of oestrogen were, however, secreted in culture by large follicles that had been explanted from sheep in which 1 mg LH had been infused between 18 and 24 h after removal of the corpus luteum. Experiments carried out entirely in vivo showed that intravenous infusion of 1 mg LH into sheep from which the corpora lutea had been removed 18 h previously prevented the ovaries from secreting, during the ensuing 22 h, the large amounts of oestrogen they would otherwise have produced. The results demonstrate that oestrogen secretion by large Graafian follicles is terminated both in vitro and in vivo by an amount of LH corresponding to that released at oestrus.