Increased testosterone secretion in bulls treated with a luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist requires endogenous LH but not LHRH

The requirement for endogenous LHRH and LH action in the maintenance of elevated plasma concentrations of testosterone in bulls receiving the LHRH agonist deslorelin was examined. In Experiment 1, bulls were either (i) left untreated (control); (ii) implanted with deslorelin; (iii) actively immunized against LHRH; or (iv) implanted with deslorelin and immunized against LHRH. Experiment 2 was of similar design to Experiment 1, except that bulls were immunized against LH in place of LHRH. In Experiment 1, plasma LH declined in bulls immunized against LHRH, but not in the bulls immunized against LHRH and implanted with deslorelin. Also in Experiment 1, plasma testosterone declined in bulls immunized against LHRH but was elevated in bulls treated with deslorelin and bulls treated with deslorelin and immunized against LHRH. In Experiment 2, bulls immunized against LH and treated with deslorelin had plasma concentrations of testosterone similar to controls, whereas bulls treated only with deslorelin had elevated plasma testosterone. It was concluded from these experiments that endogenous LHRH action was not required for increased steroidogenic activity in bulls treated with a LHRH agonist. However, circulating LH was necessary for increased plasma testosterone in bulls implanted with deslorelin. LH is therefore involved in mediating the response of bulls to treatment with deslorelin, either by acting directly at the testes or through a permissive role that allows a direct action of deslorelin at the testes.