Abstract
Treatment of adult male rats with a potent luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist, [D-Leu6, Des-Gly-NH2 10] LHRH ethylamide or human chorionic gonadotropin for one week caused a marked decline in luteinizing hormone receptors in testicular tissue. Testicular weight was also significantly decreased by these treatments while plasma testosterone levels were decreased by treatment with the LHRH agonist and increased after hCG. A single injection of the LHRH agonist or hCG also induced a long-lasting loss of testis LH binding sites with receptor levels returning to control values at 8 days. These findings indicate than an elevation of endogenous LH, whether induced by single or repeated injection of a potent LHRH agonist, is capable of down regulating testicular LH receptors with a resultant long-term effect of reduced testicular size and decreased plasma testosterone concentration.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 855-862 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Biochemical and biophysical research communications |
Volume | 76 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 6 1977 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biophysics
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology