Abstract. The aims of the present study were to clarify the effect of kisspeptin-10 (Kp10) on the secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and growth hormone (GH) in prepubertal male and female cattle. The experiments were performed from May to June using five male (4-6 months old) and five female (5-6 months old) Japanese Black calves. A single intravenous (iv) injection of Kp10 (5 μg/kg body weight (b.w.): 3.85 nmol/ kg b.w.)significantly stimulated the release of LH and FSH in male and female calves (P<0.05). A single intramuscular injection of Kp10 (5 μg/kg b.w.) also significantly stimulated the release of LH and FSH in male calves (P<0.05), though the response was smaller than that to the iv injection. The injection of Kp10 did not alter the basal plasma concentration of GH in male or female calves. The area under the curve (AUC) of both LH and FSH for a 120-min period after the iv injection of Kp10 was significantly greater in the males than females (P<0.05). These results show that Kp10 can stimulate the release of LH and FSH in calves of both sexes and that the response to the peptide is greater in males at this age. They also show that Kp10 has no effect on the release of GH in male and female calves and that the LH-and FSHreleasing effect of Kp10 is greater after an iv injection than after an im injection in calves. Key words: Cattle, Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), Growth hormone (GH), Kisspeptin-10, Luteinizing hormone (LH) (J. Reprod. Dev. 55: 650-654, 2009) he pituitary's release of gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), is essential to normal gonadal development and function [1], such as ovulation in females and spermatogenesis in males [2]. The brain-pituitarygonadal axis is operated by the decapeptide gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in the mammalian brain. However, recently, the KiSS-1/GPR54 system in the hypothalamus was implicated in the regulation of this axis [3][4][5].Kisspeptin is the product of the KiSS-1 gene, which encodes a 145-amino acid peptide that is further processed to generate biologically active peptides of various lengths (10-54 amino acids) termed kisspeptins [5,6]. Kisspeptin neurons are found in the hypothalamus [7][8][9], and kisspeptins strongly stimulate the secretion of gonadotropin through a G protein-coupled receptor known as GPR54 [3][4][5]. The actions of these peptides are thought to involve mainly stimulating GnRH's neuronal activity through GPR54 [3][4][5].An administration of kisspeptin, either centrally or peripherally, has been shown to elicit the release of gonadotropins in ruminants [10][11][12][13][14][15] as well as in rats [16,17], pigs [18], monkeys [19] and humans [20,21]. However, in cattle, only two in vivo studies have been conducted [13,14], and the precise effects of kisspeptin on the secretion of pituitary hormones under physiological conditions are unknown.Puberty as a successful reproductive event is closely related to interactions between the gonadotropic axis ...