Impact of One-Week Administration of Dihydrotestosterone in Rat Anterior Pituitary Gland
October 2022
in “
International journal of endocrinology
”
dihydrotestosterone DHT prolactin Prl gonadotropin-releasing hormone GnRH GnRH receptor Gnrh-r pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide PACAP PACAP receptor Pac1-r thyrotropin-releasing hormone Trh-r kisspeptin Kiss1-r inhibin α subunit Inha activin βA subunit Actba activin B subunit Actbb follistatin Fst
TLDR Dihydrotestosterone changes some hormone-related gene expressions in rat pituitary glands but doesn't affect the estrous cycle.
The study investigated the effects of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) on the rat anterior pituitary gland, finding that a one-week administration of DHT to 6-week postnatal female rats did not significantly disrupt estrous cyclicity or alter the expression of genes for common gonadotropin subunits. However, DHT significantly repressed prolactin (Prl) gene expression and inhibited gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor (Gnrh-r) gene expression. Conversely, DHT increased the expression of the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) receptor (Pac1-r) gene. The expression of genes for thyrotropin-releasing hormone (Trh-r) and kisspeptin (Kiss1-r) receptors remained unchanged. DHT also inhibited the expression of inhibin α subunit (Inha) and activin βA subunit (Actba) genes, while the expression of activin B subunit (Actbb) and follistatin (Fst) genes was unaffected. In vitro studies with mouse pituitary gonadotroph LβT2 cells and rat prolactin-producing GH3 cells supported some of these findings, indicating that DHT can directly or indirectly influence hormone-producing cells in the anterior pituitary gland.
