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Serum Gonadotropins in Rats Fed a Low-Valine Diet

Department of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Harbor General Hospital Campus Torrance, California

² Reprint requests to: Division of Endocrinology, Harbor General Hospital, 1000 West Carson Street, Torrance, California 90509.

Abstract

Female rats fed a low-valine diet from the time of weaning have been shown to have delayed puberty compared to growth-matched controls. To explore the mechanism of this delay, serum LH and FSH were measured in rats fed the lowvaline diet and in growth-matched control rats at several ages prior to puberty. Hormonal determinations at each time point were made both in the basal state and after LHRH administration or castration. After age 27 days, the mean basal serum FSH was lower in the low-valine group than in the control group. The mean serum levels of LH and FSH after oophorectomy were significantly lower in the low-valine group than in the control group, although the mean serum levels of LH and FSH after LHRH administration to intact animals were similar in both groups. The combination of impaired response to castration with unimpaired pituitary response to LHRH suggests that the lowvaline group had a hypothalamic defect which accounts for their delayed sexual maturation when compared to growth-matched animals.

Footnotes

Supported by Grants 1 F22 HD01900-02 and 5 K04 HD70436-04 from NIH.

Presented in part at the winter meeting of the Western Society for Pediatric Research, February 4-6, 1976, and at the Endocrine Society Annual Meeting, June 23-25, 1976.

¹ Current address: Endocrine-Metabolic Service, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. 20012.

Received July 12, 1976.