Sa. Stanley et al., The effects of ciliary neurotrophic factor on the hypothalamo-pituitary gonadal axis in vitro in female rats, J NEUROENDO, 12(10), 2000, pp. 1009-1013
Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is a member of the neuropoietic family o
f cytokines. CNTF exerts its actions through activation of a receptor compl
ex, which shows similarity of sequence, second messenger systems and distri
bution to the leptin receptor. Leptin has been demonstrated to exert profou
nd effects on the hypothalamo-pituitary gonadal axis. This study examines t
he in vitro effects of CNTF on hypothalamic luteinizing hormone releasing h
ormone release (LHRH) and pituitary luteinizing hormone (LH) release compar
ed to those of leptin in the female. We report that CNTF stimulates LHRH re
lease from medial basal hypothalamic explants harvested from proestrous fem
ale rats and this effect is of similar magnitude to that seen with leptin.
In contrast, CNTF suppresses LHRH-stimulated LH release from dispersed ante
rior pituitary cells harvested from proestrous female rats but has no effec
t on basal LH release. Leptin stimulates basal LH release but has no effect
on LHRH-stimulated LH release. The suppressive effect of CNTF on LHRH-stim
ulated LH release has been confirmed in perifused anterior hemipituitaries.
These results suggest a differential effect of CNTF on the hypothalamo-pit
uitary gonadal axis and a possible role in the modulation of pituitary gona
dal function.