THE EXPERIMENTAL AUTOIMMUNE OOPHORITIS (EAO) MODIFY SERUM LEVELS OF LH AND PROGESTERONE. EFFECT OF ICV INJECTIONS OF ALPHA-MSH

BERBERIAN V, SÁNCHEZ S, SÁNCHEZ-BORZONE M, LASAGA M, CELIS ME.

Villa General Belgrano, Córdoba

Congreso; XIV Reunión Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Córdoba; 2003

Infertility and other ovarian disorders are due to changes in the immune system and reproductive hormones. There is a strong correlation between EAO in rats and the human illness with one of the mediators of the inflam- mation being peptide α-MSH. The current work was carried out with the idea of obtaining more information about the way this peptide acts in an inflammatory process such as EAO. The illness was induced in female rats by means of an injection of ovarian homogenate with a complete Freud adjuvant. An analysis was performed to see if intracerebro-ventricular (icv) injection of α-MSH was able to block or modify the hormones related to the reproductive process. Daily injections of α-MSH did not block the de- velopment of the illness. However when the serum profile of the LH and P hormones was studied, it was observed that during the proestrus the rats with EAO had higher LH values than those found in the controls, or in control rats treated with the peptide. The icv injection of α-MSH in rats with EAO produced a decrease in LH values. P values increased during the development of the illness during the proestrus day between 17.00 and 20.00 h. In the continuous diestrus (D2), in rats with EAO high P serum levels were observed, although when they were treated with the peptide these levels decreased to similar levels of those found in D2 of control rats. LH serum values were only modified in D2 control rats treated with α-MSH. It can therefore be concluded that the peptide reduces both hormones values in the proestrus day in rats which have the induced illness. However, this hormonal decrease is insufficient to block development of the EAO.