The effect of human chorionic gonadotropin, dibutyryl cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate, prostaglandins, and 25-hydroxycholesterol on acute progesterone secretion by dissociated rabbit luteal cells in vitro: evidence for independent effect of human chorionic gonadotropins and lipoproteins.

Although estradiol is the established luteotropic hormone in the rabbit, the corpus luteum also contains a luteinizing hormone (LH)-activated adenylate cyclase system and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase, which suggests that LH and cAMP may play a physiological role in regulating luteal progesterone production. The present study examined whether human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and cAMP derivatives stimulate progesterone production by dispersed rabbit luteal cells in static and perifusion incubations. Results of this study show that progesterone production by rabbit luteal cells is significantly stimulated (p less than 0.05) by hCG concentrations at or greater than 0.1 IU/ml or by dibutyryl cAMP concentrations at or greater than 5 mM. Both agents produce maximal stimulations of approximately 4-fold. However, neither prostaglandin E2 or F2 alpha at concentrations of 0.1-3.0 micrograms/ml altered progesterone secretion. When luteal cells were incubated with maximal concentrations of hCG and lipoproteins together, the resultant progesterone secretion was additive. This suggests that the effects of hCG and lipoprotein are independent. Both responses could be blocked completely by cycloheximide (10(-4) M), and thus appear to be dependent on protein synthesis. The cholesterol derivative 25-hydroxycholesterol (20 micrograms/ml) partially overcame the steroidogenic block by cycloheximide, suggesting that transport of cholesterol, regardless of its origin, into mitochondria was an essential protein-mediated event in these cells. Inhibition of the side-chain-cleavage enzyme by aminoglutethamide blocked progesterone production by rabbit luteal cells in vitro. Although estradiol may dominate in the regulation of luteal progesterone production physiologically, this study clearly demonstrates that potential mechanisms do exist in the rabbit corpus luteum for cAMP-mediated stimulation of progesterone production in the rabbit.