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Horm Metab Res 1982; 14(6): 312-316
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-1019003
© Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart · New York

Control of Gonadotropin Secretion in Man: Role of Opioid Peptides

F. Fraioli1 , A. E. Panerai2 , Claudia Santoro1 , A. Fabbri1 , F. Santoro3 , A. Isidori
  • 1Istituto di V Clinica Medica, University of Rome, Policlinico Umberto I°, Rome, Italy
  • 2Department of Pharmacology, University of Milan, School of Medicine, Rome, Italy
  • 3Radim Research Laboratories, Pomezia, Rome, Italy
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Publikationsverlauf

1981

1981

Publikationsdatum:
23. April 2008 (online)

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Summary

The role of opioid peptides in the secretion of gonadotropins in man was studied by means of three different experimental models: a patient with congenital Indifference to pain, morphine addicts and healthy volunteers, representing respectively spontaneous pathology, a pharmacological model and normal conditions. The patient with congenital indifference to pain fully investigated from a neurological point of view, was considered for the high levels of central opioid peptides. Morphine addicts, selected on the basis of a two year drug addiction, were considered as having high pharmacological opiate activity in the brain. Healthy volunteers, given 0.1 mg/kg/h of naloxone i.v., were used as a model with low central opioid activity. FSH, LH and testosterone were evaluated in all subjects by means of a sensitive and specific RIA. Morphine addicts received their usual dose of morphine and blood was collected every 20 minutes for 120 minutes before and after GnRH administration. Blood samples were collected in normal subjects every 20 minutes for 120 minutes in basal conditions and thereafter during naloxone infusion for 240 minutes. GnRH was given in a single i.v. bolus at 120 minutes after the start of the infusion. The same procedure was used in the case of congenital indifference to pain.

The patient with congenital indifference to pain showed no detectable FSH and LH in basal conditions and low levels of testosterone; in the GnRH test a response in LH was observed but FSH failed to rise. Morphine addicts showed low gonadotropin levels in basal conditions and the GnRH profile was similar to that described above. In normal subjects naloxone infusion stimulated LH release and GnRH produced a further rise in LH.

These data indicate an inhibitory control mechanism of opioids in the release of gonadotropins and suggest that this inhibition may be exerted at a suprahypophyseal level.

Key-Words:

Opioid Peptides - LH, FSH, Gonadotropins - Congenital Indifference to Pain - Naloxone

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