Plasma levels of TSH and thyroid hormones in 22 male and 27 female medical students were determined by radioimmunoassay before and after an academic examination. The plasma values of TSH were slightly higher in both sexes on the examination day than on the control days. The values were lower after the examination than before it in females but not in males. Plasma levels of T3 were higher in males than in females on the examination day. In contrast, the plasma rT3 values were higher for females on the examination day than on control days. The plasma levels of T4 were similar in both sexes. The results suggest that during psychic stress, the pituitary-thyroid endocrine system of the female reacts differently from that of the male.
Plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone were determined by radioimmunoassay in medical students just before (Exp. 1) and after (Exp. 2) an academic examination and corresponding control periods. Before the examination (Exp. 1), the males' LH values were lower than their control levels, but there was no such difference in the females. Testosterone levels were unaffected in both sexes. There was no correlation between the values of LH and testosterone. There was, however, a significant negative correlation in the males, and an almost significant negative correlation in the females, between the preexamination testosterone values and the examination scores achieved. After the examination (Exp. 2), again the LH values were lower than the control values in the males, but not in the females, and the testosterone values were unaffected in both sexes. There was a weak positive correlation between the postexamination LH and testosterone values in the males, but not in the females. The results are in line with earlier observations suggesting that psychological stress is associated with different hormonal effects in males and females.
Natural lighting differs from usual artificial lighting mainly as follows: it has larger spectral composition, fluctuations of intensity during the day, higher intensity levels during the night (moonlight, starlight), and gradual changes of illuminance at dawn and dusk. The present experiment was performed in order to study whether these features of lighting affect the 24-hour patterns of melatonin and prolactin in male rats. The rats were kept 7 days in ‘natural’ lighting (sunlight through windows) or in artificial lighting (cool white fluorescent lamps) of similar periodicities (13/1 lh light/ dark). The samples were collected at 3-hour intervals during a 24-hour period. Pineal melatonin contents, pituitary prolactin contents, and plasma prolactin concentrations were measured radioimmunologically. The nocturnal pineal melatonin contents were higher and the daytime contents lower in natural than in artificial lighting conditions. A corresponding ‘strengthening of rhythm’ of prolactin was found in natural lighting. A reason for the higher amplitude variation of melatonin in the natural lighting conditions may be the gradual changes of illuminance at dawn and dusk. The different pituitary and plasma prolactin patterns of the rats kept in the two lighting conditions might partly be explained by a stimulatory effect of melatonin on the production and secretion of prolactin, but other regulatory factors had to be involved, too.
In order to find out whether different light spectra have any role in regulating the gonadotropin levels in male rats, we compared the 24-hour patterns of plasma and pituitary gonadotropins in rats kept for 7 days in natural or in cool white artificial lighting (exp. I). The intensity and periodicity of the two lighting conditions were adjusted as similar as possible. Further, we measured plasma and pituitary gonadotropins in the middle of the light period and in the middle of the dark period in rats kept for 7 days under artificial lightings of three different spectra (exp. II). In both experiments, in all lighting conditions we found higher plasma levels of LH and FSH during the dark than the light period. The differences were statistically significant only when the illumination contained more long and/or short wavelengths than the usual cool white laboratory lighting. The pituitary contents of gonadotropins were not found to vary with the periodicity of lighting. In the 24-hour patterns the overall plasma levels were higher and the pituitary contents of gonadotropins lower in natural lighting than in cool white lighting. It was concluded that the spectral properties of light influence the secretion of gonadotropins in male rats, but the mechanism involved remains to be clarified.
It has been shown in the Syrian hamster that a short photoperiod sensitizes the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis of castrated animals to the negative feedback effect of testosterone. There is some evidence that even the reproductive system of the rat, which is generally considered not to be very sensitive to light, can respond to changes in illumination. Therefore, we found it of interest to examine whether alterations in lighting conditions produce changes of sensitivity in the negative feedback effect of testosterone in the rat. We kept intact, castrated, and castrated testosterone-treated animals either in periodic (L:D 12:12) or constant light for 7 days starting 4 weeks after castration. In all 3 testosterone-injected groups, serum luteinizing hormone (LH) was lower in constant than in periodic light. Exogenous testosterone did not decrease the castration-induced elevations of pituitary LH and folliclestimulating hormone (FSH). On the contrary, testosterone increased the pituitary contents of LH and FSH, especially in constant light. We conclude that, in constant light, the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis of the castrated rat becomes more sensitive to the negative feedback action of testosterone.
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