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Restoration of Luteinizing Hormone Response to Naloxone in Postmenopausal Women by Chronic Administration of the Antidopaminergic Drug Veralipride^*

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Pisa School of Medicine 56100 Pisa, Italy

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Gian Benedetto Melis, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Pisa, Via Roma 67, Pisa, 56100 Italy.

To determine whether antidopaminergic drug administration may modify endogenous opioid activity at the hypothalamic-pituitary level, the effects of naloxone infusion (1.6 mg/h for 4 h) on LH secretion were studied in six postmenopausal women before and after administration of the potent antidopaminergic drug veralipride for 20 days. Before veralipride administration, the naloxone infusion did not alter LH secretion. Chronic administration of veralipride resulted in a significant (P < 0.01) decline in plasma LH levels. In addition, the naloxone infusion induced a significant (P < 0.05) increase in plasma LH levels, which reached values similar to those before veralipride administration.

These results demonstrate that in postmenopausal women the antidopaminergic drug veralipride can restore, at least in part, the activity of the endogenous opioid system. These findings suggest that endogenous opioid peptides may mediate the inhibitory effect exerted by chronic antidopaminergic drug administration on LH secretion in humans.

^* This work was supported by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (C.N.R.), Rome, Italy (Grants 86.00531.04 and 86.01787.56).

Received January 20, 1987.