ISSN:
1471-4159
Quelle:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Thema:
Medizin
Notizen:
Abstract: The effects of castration and testosterone replacement on hypothalamic pools of β-endorphin and dynorphin and on the basal and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-stimulated release of these peptides from hypothalamic slices in vitro were studied. The experiments were done in adult male rats. The hypothalamic content of both peptides increased significantly within 1 week of castration, and levels remained elevated for up to 4 weeks. Testosterone treatment, begun at the time of castration, prevented these increases. In addition, testosterone replacement 6 weeks after castration reversed peptide levels to normal. Basal in vitro release rates of β-endorphin and dynorphin were significantly lower from hypothalamic slices derived from 1-week castrated animals than from intact males, and when testosterone was administered in various doses in vivo, basal release rates in vitro increased in a dose-related manner. Hypothalami from rats that had been castrated for 4 weeks, however, showed basal release rates similar to those in tissues from intact controls, a finding indicating that castration initially alters both opioid peptide synthesis and release; later, release is normalized, whereas synthesis remains elevated. CRF was found to stimulate β-endorphin and dynorphin release from hypothalami from intact and from 1- and 4-week-castrated rats, a result indicating that castration does not alter the response of β-endorphin and dynorphin neurons to this stimulus.
Materialart:
Digitale Medien
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-4159.1987.tb00956.x
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