thesis
The interaction of steroids with the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular system in the adult male rat
- Publication date
- 7 April 1976
- Publisher
- Major functions of the mature male gonad are the production
of gametes and steroid hormones. Extratesticular as
well as intratesticular factors regulate these two male gonadal
functions which are associated with two distinct cell
compartments in the testis. It has been known for a long
time that hypophysectomy is followed by gonadal atrophy and
arrest of the spermatogenic process which only will proceed
to a primary spermatocyte stage. The anterior pituitary
gland appears to play an essential role in the regulation
of the testis and systematic studies on the relationship
between brain structures and the male gonad started in the
late nineteen twenties and early thirties. The finding that
testicular functions were controlled by the hypophysis stimulated
almost simultaneously experiments on the reverse
issue, i.e. whether testicular products can affect the hypophysis
(Moore and Price, 1930). The connections between
these systems are the anterior pituitary gonadotrophiC hormones,
luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating
hormone (FSH). It is now well established that the major
control of pituitary function resides in the hypothalamus,
although other brain structures also are involved in the
regulation of the pituitary gland (Szent.3.gothai et al.
1968; Mess and Martini, 1968; Halasz, 1969). Hypothalamic
gonadotrophin releasing factor (GnRF) , reaching the anterior
pituitary gland via a portal system, stimulates syn-thesis (Redding et al. 1972) and release (Schally et al.
1968) of the hypophyseal gonadotrophins LH and FSH in special
gonadotroph cells. The many mutually dependent and
complicated interactions between hypothalamus, hypophysis
and testis at different functional levels are intriguing
and make their study very attractive.