Related Experiment Videos
Sex steroids modulate luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone secretion in a cholinergic cell line from the basal
J R Martínez-Morales1, I López-Coviella, J G Hernández-Jiménez
1Laboratory of Cellular Neurobiology, Department of Physiology, University of La Laguna School of Medicine, 38071, S/C de Tenerife, Spain.
Abstract:
The function of a particular neuronal population is in part determined by its neurotransmitter phenotype. We have found that a neuronal-derived septal cell line (SN56), known for its cholinergic properties, also synthesizes and releases luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone. In addition, these cells express the messenger RNAs encoding estrogen and progesterone receptors. The activation of these receptors by their respective ligands cooperatively modulates the depolarization-induced release of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone in these cells. We have also found that a number of septal neurons in postnatal (1-week-old) mice are immunoreactive to both choline acetyltransferase and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone. These results indicate that both neurotransmitters, acetylcholine and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, may co-exist in septal neurons of the CNS and that they could be modulated by gonadal hormones, and suggest that luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone could be involved in some of the actions of sex steroids on cholinergic neurotransmission.