[Effect of leptin in the production of progesterone and estradiol by ovarian rat tissue].

An alteration in the balance of autocrine/paracrine ovarian factors may lead to different diseases. The aim of the present report was to evaluate the relationship between insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and leptin (Lp) in the progesterone (P) and estradiol (E) production after ovarian rat FSH stimulation. Thus, ovarian explants were incubated with FSH, IGF-1 and Lp, and P and E were evaluated by means of specific radioimmunoassays. FSH increased ovarian P and E production. IGF-1 synergized with FSH in P as well as in ovarian E production. Lp had not shown any effect on the FSH capacity to increase P and E in the ovarian tissue; nevertheless it reverted the synergistic effect of IGF-1 on FSH for P as well as for E. These data raise the possibility that abnormal Lp levels may contribute to infertility in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome by counteracting the sensitizing effects of IGF-1 in ovarian tissue.