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Neurohypophysial hormones stimulate gonadotrophin release from dispersed rat anterior pituitary cells in vitro, acting through receptors distinct from those which mediate the secretory response to gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH). The LH response to oxytocin was not affected by the presence of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor, methyl isobutylxanthine, but was diminished in the absence of extracellular calcium and was progressively increased as the calcium concentration in the medium was raised to normal. In addition, the calcium channel antagonist, nifedipine, suppressed oxytocin-stimulated secretion of LH. It is likely that the mechanisms of LH release induced by GnRH and neurohypophysial hormones are similar, although stimulation of gonadotrophin secretion is mediated by separate receptor systems. Oxytocin was more active than vasopressin in releasing LH, but less active in releasing ACTH. The highly selective oxytocin agonist, [Thr⁴,Gly⁷]oxytocin, elicited concentration-dependent secretion of LH but had little effect on corticotrophin secretion. The neurohypophysial hormone antagonist analogues, [d(CH₂)₅Tyr(Me)²]-vasopressin, [d(CH₂)₅Tyr(Me)₂,Orn⁸]vasotocin and [d(CH₂)₅D-Tyr(Et)²Val⁴,Cit⁸]vasopressin, inhibited the LH response to both oxytocin and vasopressin. However, [d(CH₂)₅Tyr(Me)²]vasopressin was much less effective in inhibiting the ACTH response to the neurohypophysial hormones, and [d(CH₂)₅Tyr-(Me)²,Orn⁸]vasotocin and [d(CH₂)₅D-Tyr(Et)²,Val⁴, Cit⁸]vasopressin exhibited no inhibitory activity against ACTH release. Thus, agonist and antagonist analogues of neurophypophysial hormones display divergent activities with regard to LH and ACTH responses, and the neuropeptide receptor mediating gonadotroph activation is clearly different from that on the corticotroph. Whereas the corticotroph receptor is a vasopressin-type receptor an oxytocin-type receptor is responsible for gonadotrophin release by neurohypophysial hormones.

Journal of Endocrinology (1989) 122, 107–116

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				J.J. Evans, R.A. Reid, S.A. Wakeman, L.B. Croft, and P.S. Benny Evidence that oxytocin is a physiological component of LH regulation in non-pregnant women Hum. Reprod., July 1, 2003; 18(7): 1428 - 1431. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. J. Evans Modulation of Gonadotropin Levels by Peptides Acting at the Anterior Pituitary Gland Endocr. Rev., February 1, 1999; 20(1): 46 - 67. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				J. J. Evans, W. Forrest-Owen, and C. A. McArdle Oxytocin Receptor-Mediated Activation of Phosphoinositidase C and Elevation of Cytosolic Calcium in the Gonadotrope-Derived {alpha}T3-1 Cell Line Endocrinology, May 1, 1997; 138(5): 2049 - 2055. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]