Biol Reprod Keystone Symposia Conference on Frontiers in Reproductive Biology & Regulation of Fertility.
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Biology of Reproduction, Vol 18, 193-197, Copyright © 1978 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

Simultaneous Measurement of Steroids in Follicular Fluid and Ovarian Venous Blood in the Rabbit

JANICE M. BAHR 1

1 Department of Animal Science, Animal Genetics Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 61801


Steroid concentrations in ovarian venous blood and follicular fluid in the rabbit increase significantly following mating or i.v. injection of LH. To study the dynamic changes occurring in these compartments and to determine whether more steroids are secreted directly into ovarian venous blood or into follicular fluid following gonadotrophin stimulation, ovarian venous blood and follicular fluid were measured simultaneously in rabbits before and at 5, 10, 30 min and 1, 2, 3frac12, 5, and 9 h after an i.v. injection of an ovulatory dose of LH (NIH-S18, 50 µg/rabbit). Ovarian venous output of progesterone (P4), testosterone (T), and estrogen (E) was significantly elevated (P<0.05) by 5 min after LH. E and T remained elevated for 2 h, after which time they started to decrease, returning to basal levels at 5 h. At 9 h, output of E and T was significantly (P<0.05) less than basal levels. In contrast, P4 remained elevated for 5 h followed by a significant decrease (P<0.05) at 9 h. However, these levels were 500% greater than basal levels. The average overall increases in ovarian output for P4 and T were approximately 1000% whereas that of E was 250%.

The changes in steroid concentrations in follicular fluid were less dramatic. Significant increases (P<0.05) were observed 10 min after LH injection for P4, T, and E. These concentrations were maintained 2 and 3frac12 h for T and E and 5 h for P4. After 3frac12 h (T and E) or 5 h (P4) steroid concentrations decreased to basal levels (P4 and E) or levels significantly less than basal levels (T). For all 3 steroids, an approximate 200% elevation in the steroid concentration of follicular fluid was observed.

These results suggest that the majority of the newly synthesized steroids is secreted directly into the ovarian vein while small amounts are secreted into the follicular fluid. Furthermore, the fact that the follicular fluid steroid concentrations show minor increases following gonadotrophin stimulation may suggest that they contribute minimally to the significant increase in steroid output by the rabbit ovary.

Note:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to thank Ms. Annie Pang, Alberta McClara, and Marti Cox for their fine technical and clerical assistance. This work was supported in part by a National Science Foundation Grant BMS 75-18994 and the Biomedical Research Support Grant RR-07030.

Submitted on April 25, 1977
Accepted on August 11, 1977






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Copyright © 1978 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction.