Endocrinology, Vol 127, 1541-1543, Copyright © 1990 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Corticotropin-releasing factor is produced by rat Leydig cells and has a major local antireproductive role in the testis

A Fabbri, JC Tinajero and ML Dufau
Section on Molecular Endocrinology, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.

Cultured rat Leydig cells secreted considerable amounts of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). A major stimulus for Leydig cell- derived CRF was the trophic hormone LH/hCG, which released the peptide in a dose dependent fashion. Incubation of Leydig cells with a CRF antagonist revealed tonic suppression of basal and hCG-stimulated testosterone production by endogenously produced CRF. These findings demonstrate that CRF acts via functional Leydig cell receptors to exert autocrine inhibitory actions on Leydig cell steroidogenesis. In the testis CRF acts as an antireproductive hormone and as a major local inhibitory regulator of Leydig cell function.

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