In mammals, reproduction is thought to be controlled by a single neuropeptide, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH-I), which regulates the synthesis and secretion of gonadotropins from the pituitary gland. However, another form of this decapeptide (GnRH-II), of unknown function, also exists in the brain of many vertebrate species, including humans; it is encoded by a different gene and its amino acid sequence is 70% identical to that of GnRH-I. We have now cloned GnRH-II cDNA from the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), and have shown by in situ hybridization that GnRH-II mRNA is expressed in the primate midbrain, hippocampus and discrete nuclei of the hypothalamus, including the supraoptic, paraventricular, suprachiasmatic and arcuate. Because the regional distribution pattern of cells containing GnRH-II mRNA is largely dissimilar to that of cells containing GnRH-I mRNA, it is likely that these two cell populations receive distinct neuroendocrine inputs and thus regu late GnR H synthesis and release differently. Elucidation of how GnRH neurons are integrated with major neurotransmitters of the central nervous system is fundamental to the understanding of hypothalamic causes of human infertility and reproductive disorders such as precocious and delayed puberty. Therefore, these data should help in the design of therapies and also provide new approaches for contraception. FUNDING Medical Research Foundation of Oregon PUBLICATIONS Urbanski HF, Garyfallou VT, Rodrigues SM, Kohama SG. Subpopulation specificity in the capacity of rhesus macaque GnRH neurons to express GluR1. Soc Neurosci Abstr 24:270, 1998 (abstract 110.7). White RB, Urbanski HF, Fernald RD. A second gene for gonadotropin-releasing hormone is expressed in the rhesus macaque. Soc Neurosci Abstr 24:1609, 1998 (abstract 632.18).
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