Evidence for a direct inhibitory effect of ethanol upon gonadotropin secretion at the pituitary level

Mixed rat pituitary cells harvested from pituitaries obtained from adult male rats were maintained in tissue culture for periods up to 240 hr. Viability determined by trypan blue exclusion at the end of each experiment was greater than 90%. Basal secretory rats of luteinizing hormone (LH) into the culture medium were determined before and after the addition of ethanol (30 mg/100 ml) to the incubation medium. Ethanol-reduced (p less than .01) LH secretion of treated cultures were compared to control cultures. Based upon this preliminary in vitro study with rat tissue and on prior studies performed in man and animals, we suggest that ethanol inhibits LH secretion at the pituitary level.