Title: Stimulation of Leydig cell steroidogenesis by a factor from human ovarian follicular fluid.

POPLINE Document Number: 075752

Author(s):

Khan SA
Keck C
Nieschlag E

Source citation:

In: Growth factors in fertility regulation. Proceedings of the Symposium on Potential of Molecular Biology in Fertility Regulation: Growth Regulatory Factors, jointly sponsored by the World Health Organization and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and held at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, on September 22-24, 1988, edited by Florence P. Haseltine, Jock K. Findlay. Cambridge, England, Cambridge University Press, 1991. :185-93. (Scientific Basis of Fertility Regulation)

Abstract:

This review assigns an observed enhanced 40-times higher luteinizing hormone (LH) activity in ovarian follicular fluid to a factor with LH-like bioactivity, that is distinct from both LH and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Human follicular fluid and serum were obtained from women having in vitro fertilization who were treated with human menopausal gonadotropins (10,000 IU) and hCG to induce ovulation. LH-like activity was bioassayed in vitro on rat testis interstitial cells. Incubating the follicular fluid with antiserum against hCG did not eliminate the LH-like activity. Human follicular fluid also stimulated steroidogenesis in human, mouse, beef, and hamster testis. Preliminary tests to characterize this LH-like activity showed that it is heat sensitive, precipitable in ammonium G04, high-molecular weight between 30-50 kDa, shows a pI value of 8.8-9.5, and is not lipid soluble. The factor enhanced testosterone production in Leydig cells that had been maximally stimulated with cholera toxin or dibutyryl cyclic AMP, indicating that the effect was not mediated by adenyl cyclase. This ovarian factor appears during follicular maturation.

Keywords:

Research Report
Clinical Research
Ovarian Effects
Human Volunteers
In Vitro
Animals, Laboratory
Testis
Testosterone
Luteinizing Hormone
Hormones
Physiology
Gonadotropins, Chorionic
Cytologic Effects
Research Methodology
Ovary
Genitalia, Female
Genitalia
Urogenital System
Biology
Genitalia, Male
Androgens
Endocrine System
Gonadotropins, Pituitary
Gonadotropins