Estrogen induction of progestin receptors in pituitary, hypothalamic and uterine cytosol of androgenized female rats.

Female rats treated neonatally with a single dose (1.25 mg/animal) of testosterone propionate and ovariectomized when adult did not respond to a priming dose (20 micrograms/animal) of estradiol-17 beta 3-benzoate and subsequent application of progesterone (2.5 mg/animal) 72 h later with an afternoon surge of luteinizing hormone, which could be induced by the same hormonal regimen in neonatally oil-treated long-term ovariectomized female rats. However, both treatment groups responded equally well to the estrogen stimulus with an increase in cytosolic progestin receptors in hypothalamic and pituitary, as well as uterine tissue. It therefore seems unlikely that the observed loss of sensitivity of the gonadotropin release mechanism in neonatally androgenized, estrogen-primed female rats to a progesterone stimulus can be explained by a loss of progestin receptor induction capacity of estrogen/progestin target tissues involved in gonadotropin secretion.