Immunocytochemical and histochemical analyses of gonadotrophin releasing hormone, tyrosine hydroxylase, and cytochrome oxidase reactivity within the hypothalamus of chicks showing early sexual maturation.

In order to determine the changes in gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) and dopaminergic activity within the brain during the onset of sexual precocity, a Halasz-like knife was developed to produce discrete parasagittal cuts in 2-week-old male broiler chicks. At 5 weeks of age, sexually precocious respondents were selected on the basis of advanced secondary sex characteristics and randomly paired with sham-operated controls. Each pair of birds was perfused with heparinized saline followed by 4% paraformaldehyde. Sections 40 microns thick, obtained throughout the hypothalamus, were immunostained with either anti-GnRH or anti-tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) to ascertain dopaminergic activity. Alternate sections from each pair of brains were also treated with cytochrome oxidase to determine metabolic activity levels or with Nissl stain to localize the knife cuts. Analysis revealed an increase in GnRH immunoreactivity within the bed nucleus of the pallial commissure (nCPa) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN), as well as the median eminence (ME). An increase in TH immunoreactivity was observed in the nucleus intramedialis (nI). Also an increase in metabolic activity was seen in the PVN as revealed by cytochrome oxidase reactivity. It is hypothesized that during the onset of puberty there is an increase in immunoreactive GnRH cell numbers as a result of a decrease in the inhibition of the GnRH system, possibly involving the nI and PVN. The source of the dopamine reported in the ME could be from the nI and other nearby nuclei. Dopamine from the tubero-infundibular area may be one of the putative neurotransmitters responsible for the increased activity of GnRH within the ME of chicks showing precocious puberty.