Prolactin and lipopolysaccharide treatment increased apoptosis and atresia in rat ovarian follicles.

Follicular atresia is associated with the presence of increased macrophages within the follicle. What is not known is whether, in the adult rat, macrophages are instrumental in inducing apoptosis and/or atresia or whether they are simply secondary to a hormonally mediated event. As prolactin is an immunoreactive hormone and stimulates the expression of monocyte chemoattractant, the present experiments compared the effects of prolactin treatment with that of an immune challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the invasion of macrophages into the follicular and luteal compartments of the ovary and the occurrence of apoptosis/atresia in relation to macrophage invasion. Rats were treated for 3 days with either prolactin or LPS and ovaries obtained at pro-oestrus or oestrus. Prolactin and LPS increased the number of atretic vs. healthy follicles (P < 0.008, chi2) in pro-oestrus ovaries and increased the mean number of apoptotic cells and macrophages (P < 0.05 for some groups). Macrophages were typically observed in the thecal layer, apoptotic cells in the granulosa cell layer, although 84% follicles which had macrophages within the granulosa cell layer also contained relatively high numbers of apoptotic nuclei. Prolactin and LPS treatment in vivo reduced the progesterone response to follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) (P < 0.001) in cultures of ovarian dispersates but did not inhibit the response to forskolin. In contrast, prolactin or LPS added in vitro to the cultures inhibited the progesterone response to forskolin. Results show that both prolactin and LPS increase follicular apoptosis and atresia and reduce the progesterone response to FSH.