Effect of nourishing "Yin"-removing "Fire" Chinese herbal mixture on hypothalamic kisspeptin expression in female precocious rats.
OBJECTIVE
The present study aims to investigate the effect of nourishing "Yin"-removing "Fire" herbal mixture, a Chinese herb-based formulation, on hypothalamic kisspeptin expression in danazol-induced female precocious model rats.


METHODS
The female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into intact normal (N), central precocious puberty (CPP) model (M), vehicle without CPP (V), CPP model exposed to herbal mixture (HM) and CPP model exposed to saline (S) groups. At postnatal day 5, a single subcutaneous injection of 300 microg of danazol was administered to induce CPP model rats. From P15, rats in the HM group were continuously gavaged with the 1 ml/50 g body weight mixture, until two consecutive regular estrous cycles were established. The hypothalamic Kiss-1 expression was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
The day of vaginal opening and establishment of two regular estrous cycles were delayed in the HM group compared with M and S groups (P<0.05, respectively). The level of hypothalamic Kiss-1 mRNA and the number of kisspeptin-immunoreactive (kisspeptin-ir) cells in the arcuate nucleus (ARC), preoptic area (POA) and periventricular nucleus (PeN), were decreased significantly in the HM group compared with the M and S groups (P<0.01, respectively) on the day of onset-puberty.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that the kisspeptin signaling pathway might be involved in the effect of herbal mixture treatment on CPP.
Sun
Yan
Y
Department of Neurobiology and Integrative Medicine, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, PO Box 291, 138 Yi-Xue-Yuan Road, 200032 Shanghai, PR China. yansun08@hotmail.com
Perry
Genevieve Neal
GN
Yu
Jian
J
Chen
Boying
B
Tian
Zhanzhuang
Z
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D059648:Kisspeptins; D010053:Ovary / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011629:Puberty, Precocious / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D014599:Uterus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C491406:Kiss1 protein, rat; D059648:Kisspeptins; D011506:Proteins; C511726:nourishing Yin-removing Fire