Yan Sun1, Genevieve Neal Perry, Jian Yu, Boying Chen, Zhanzhuang Tian. 1. Department of Neurobiology and Integrative Medicine, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, PO Box 291, 138 Yi-Xue-Yuan Road, 200032 Shanghai, PR China. yansun08@hotmail.com
Abstract
AIM: The present study aims to investigate the effect of nourishing "Yin"-removing "Fire" herbal mixture, a Chinese herb-based formulation, on hypothalamic kisspeptin expression in danazol-induced female precocious model rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into intact normal (N), central precocious puberty (CPP) model (M), vehicle without CPP (V), CPP model exposed to herbal mixture (HM) and CPP model exposed to saline (S) groups. At postnatal day 5, a single subcutaneous injection of 300 microg of danazol was administered to induce CPP model rats. From P15, rats in the HM group were continuously gavaged with the 1 ml/50 g body weight mixture, until two consecutive regular estrous cycles were established. The hypothalamic Kiss-1 expression was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The day of vaginal opening and establishment of two regular estrous cycles were delayed in the HM group compared with M and S groups (P<0.05, respectively). The level of hypothalamic Kiss-1 mRNA and the number of kisspeptin-immunoreactive (kisspeptin-ir) cells in the arcuate nucleus (ARC), preoptic area (POA) and periventricular nucleus (PeN), were decreased significantly in the HM group compared with the M and S groups (P<0.01, respectively) on the day of onset-puberty. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the kisspeptin signaling pathway might be involved in the effect of herbal mixture treatment on CPP. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
AIM: The present study aims to investigate the effect of nourishing "Yin"-removing "Fire" herbal mixture, a Chinese herb-based formulation, on hypothalamic kisspeptin expression in danazol-induced female precocious model rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into intact normal (N), central precocious puberty (CPP) model (M), vehicle without CPP (V), CPP model exposed to herbal mixture (HM) and CPP model exposed to saline (S) groups. At postnatal day 5, a single subcutaneous injection of 300 microg of danazol was administered to induce CPP model rats. From P15, rats in the HM group were continuously gavaged with the 1 ml/50 g body weight mixture, until two consecutive regular estrous cycles were established. The hypothalamic Kiss-1 expression was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The day of vaginal opening and establishment of two regular estrous cycles were delayed in the HM group compared with M and S groups (P<0.05, respectively). The level of hypothalamic Kiss-1 mRNA and the number of kisspeptin-immunoreactive (kisspeptin-ir) cells in the arcuate nucleus (ARC), preoptic area (POA) and periventricular nucleus (PeN), were decreased significantly in the HM group compared with the M and S groups (P<0.01, respectively) on the day of onset-puberty. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the kisspeptin signaling pathway might be involved in the effect of herbal mixture treatment on CPP. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.