Support for a physiological role of endogenous catecholamines in the stimulation of bovine luteal progesterone production

To determine if catecholamines were present in bovine luteal tissue, corpora lutea (CL) were obtained during the mid-luteal phase (Days 10-12) and the concentration of dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Both DA and NE were detected in luteal tissue at mean concentrations of 41.9 +/- 5.73 and 10.2 +/- 2.51 ng/g for DA and NE, respectively. These concentrations represented a luteal content of 306.6 +/- 66.88 ng/CL for DA and 70.5 +/- 16.88 ng/CL for NE. In vitro, DA at concentrations of 1.0 mM to 0.01 mM stimulated the production of progesterone (P4, p less than 0.05). The response to DA was inhibited by propranolol (a beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist, p less than 0.05) but not by phentolamine, phenoxybenzamine (alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonists), or haloperidol (a DA receptor antagonist, p greater than 0.05). Neither L-tyrosine nor L-dopa altered P4 production (p greater than 0.05). Inhibition of DA beta-hydroxylase, the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of DA to NE by FLA-63 blocked the DA-induced increases in luteal P4 production (p less than 0.05). These results demonstrate the existence of DA and NE in bovine luteal tissue and indicate that exogenous DA can be converted to NE in luteal tissue. The results support a physiological role for catecholamines in the stimulation of bovine luteal function.