| Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists are used as an alternative to surgical castration for treatment of gonadal steroid-dependent disorders such as prostate cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids and central precocious puberty. The efficacy of these agonists is hypothesized to rely on their ability to internalize and downregulate the GnRH receptor, despite substantial evidence against such a mechanism; other means may be responsible, such as gonadotrope loss and/or depletion of gonadotropins---the hypothesis of this thesis. In adult male rats treated with the GnRH agonist deslorelin, gonadotropes synthesizing follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) beta were specifically and strongly suppressed in density through an androgen-independent mechanism; this effect outlasted the period of treatment. These are the first findings showing potentially long-lasting cytoarchitectural changes in the pituitary gland after treatment with a GnRH agonist. |
