Effect of repeated activin-A treatment on the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis of the adult male rat.

The present study was undertaken to determine whether recombinant activin-A increases mRNA levels of the peptide GnRH, and whether this phenomenon correlates with increased FSH and/or LH release. One acute s.c. injection of activin-A (120 micrograms/kg body weight) to adult male rats was found to significantly (P < 0.01) increase plasma FSH levels, with no detectable changes in LH or testosterone (T) release. Similarly, there were no significant differences between GnRH mRNA values measured in the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus. When activin-A was administered s.c. every 8 h for seven consecutive treatments, similar results were obtained for gonadotropin release; in addition, we observed a significant (p < 0.01) up-regulation of hypothalamic GnRH mRNA levels. The administration of activin-A intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v., 6 micrograms/rat) according to the same chronic schedule also produced a significant (p < 0.01) increase in FSH levels, as well as a modest, but detectable, elevation in LH concentrations, and a large augmentation of T secretion. In contrast, there were no changes in steady-state GnRH mRNA concentrations. Collectively, these results show that both the systemic (s.c.) and the central (i.c.v.) injection of activin-A stimulates FSH secretion. While we had originally thought that the lack of response of hypothalamic GnRH neurons to i.c.v. activin injections might have been due to increased steroid feedback, the observation that comparable results were obtained in both intact and castrated rats does not support this hypothesis. One possibility is that the previously reported stimulatory influence of i.c.v. activin-A treatment on neurons that manufacture corticotropin-releasing factor, and consequently on circulating catecholamine concentrations, may have increased testicular activity independently of changes in pituitary function.