Gonadotropin-releasing hormone and norepinephrine release from the rabbit mediobasal and anterior hypothalamus during the mating-induced luteinizing hormone surge.

The release of hypothalamic GnRH in association with the mating-induced LH surge was studied in the rabbit. Push-pull perfusion (PPP) of the mediobasal (MBH) or anterior (AH) regions of the hypothalamus was performed on conscious, unrestrained does for 3 h before and 5 h after exposure to a vasectomized buck. In experiment 1, GnRH concentrations were measured by RIA in 20-min fractions of MBH-PPP. An approximately 100-fold increase in GnRH release was observed within 1 h of coitus (pre, 1.15 +/- 0.29 pg/ml; peak, 106.67 +/- 37.42 pg/ml; n = 6; P less than 0.05). Concomitant surges of LH and PRL in the peripheral circulation were observed. In experiment 2, GnRH and norepinephrine (NE) were measured (the latter by radioenzymatic assay) in 10-min fractions of MBH-PPP. A 218% postcoital rise in NE levels (n = 5; P less than 0.05) in MBH-PPP accompanied an approximately 50-fold peak rise in GnRH in the same samples (pre, 1.57 +/- 0.23 pg/ml; peak, 76.52 +/- 50.14 pg/ml; P less than 0.05). MBH-NE, MBH-GnRH, LH, and PRL release began rising within 10 min of coitus. In experiment 3, GnRH was measured in 20 min fractions of AH-PPP. Coitus induced a marked rise in AH-GnRH release (precoitus, 0.31 +/- 0.03 pg/ml; peak, 2.25 +/- 0.80 pg/ml; n = 4; P less than 0.05) which differed from coitus-induced MBH-GnRH release both quantitatively (i.e. approximately 7-fold increase for AH vs. approximately 50-100-fold increase for MBH; 50-min lag time for AH vs. less than 20 min for MBH) and qualitatively (i.e. AH-GnRH release was discontinuous, while MBH-GnRH release rose sharply, plateaued, and then declined slowly over the 2-5 h following coitus). No changes in MBH-NE, MBH-GnRH, AH-GnRH, LH, FSH, or PRL were observed in sham-mated does (Exp 1, n = 7; Exp 2, n = 3; Exp 3, n = 4). These data support the hypotheses that: 1) hypothalamic GnRH release is a component of reflexive ovulation in the rabbit; 2) increased hypothalamic noradrenergic tone is related to the surge-release of GnRH; and 3) AH-GnRH release is enhanced following coitus.