Sexual differences in the serotonergic control of prolactin and luteinizing hormone secretion in the rat

Endocrinology
D Becú de VillalobosC Libertun

Abstract

The effects of serotonin on PRL and LH release were investigated in female and male rats under different experimental conditions. At a dose of 5 mg/kg ip, serotonin increased serum PRL titers in intact males and in females during diestrus and estrus; the levels attained in the male rats were much higher than in the females. At a lower dose (2.5 mg/kg) the PRL-releasing effect of serotonin was only evident in male rats. Thus, we chose this dose for the following experiments to investigate the apparent sexual difference. To evaluate the importance of the hormonal status characteristic of male and female in conditioning the serotonin effect, an experiment was performed in gonadectomized rats, untreated or treated with estradiol benzoate (EB), or testosterone propionate (TP). In the three hormonal conditions the sexual difference was maintained: serotonin released PRL in males and failed to do so in females. However, if males were castrated within 24 h of birth, and females androgenized by a single perinatal injection of TP, the sexual difference in adulthood were reversed; thus, androgenized females responded to serotonin and males castrated at birth failed to do so. These results suggest that a male differentiated brain is more s...Continue Reading

Citations

Feb 1, 1992·Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology·D Becú-VillalobosC Libertun
Dec 1, 1990·Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology·D Becú-VillalobosC Libertun
Feb 1, 1995·Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology·D Becú-Villalobos, C Libertun
Feb 12, 2008·Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology·Victoria A Lux-LantosCarlos Libertun
Aug 23, 2008·Journal of Molecular Histology·R Imbesi, P Castrogiovanni
Dec 1, 1988·General and Comparative Endocrinology·G M SomozaR E Peter
Feb 1, 1991·Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior·E SatinoffJ M Tomkowiak
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Jan 1, 1989·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·L D Van de Kar
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