Alterations in luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone release from the mediobasal hypothalamus of ovariectomized, steroid-primed middle-aged rats as measured by push-pull perfusion.

The spontaneous luteinizing hormone (LH) surge on proestrus as well as the steroid-induced LH surge and hypersecretion of LH following ovariectomy are attenuated in middle-aged female rats when compared to their young counterparts. It is generally assumed that the lower titers of serum LH measured in aging animals result, in part, from age-related alterations in luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) neurosecretion, yet no direct measurements of LHRH release from the hypothalamus of aging females are currently available. The present study utilized the push-pull perfusion technique to characterize and compare in vivo LHRH output from the mediobasal hypothalamus of ovariectomized middle-aged and young females during a steroid-induced LH surge. Twelve-minute perfusates were collected for a period of 6 h from middle-aged and young animals outfitted with push-pull cannulae resting in the mediobasal hypothalamus in close proximity to the median eminence. The overall pattern of LHRH release differed in the two age groups. Mean levels of LHRH measured in brain perfusates from middle-aged females were significantly lower than mean levels measured in young animals. Moreover, mean levels of LHRH detected in perfusates during the 1- and 2-hour intervals prior to and the 1-hour interval after the time of maximal LHRH output were lower in middle-aged animals, and a larger percentage of samples from middle-aged females contained levels of LHRH below the detectability of the assay. The mean amplitude of identified LHRH pulses and maximal LHRH output, however, did not differ in the two age groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)