Similarity of an estrogen-induced protein and a luteinizing hormone releasing hormone-induced protein

Estradiol induces a 70 kDa protein ('EI70') which is synthesized in vivo in the female rat ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and transported to the midbrain central gray, suggesting a role for EI70 in the female mating behavior, lordosis. Luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH), in addition to stimulating gonadotropin release, potentiates pituitary responsiveness to subsequent exposure to LHRH (the 'priming' effect), facilitates lordosis and induces the synthesis of a 70 kDa protein ('LHRH70') in pituitary in vitro. We now report that EI70 precisely co-migrates on two-dimensional (2-D) gels with the pituitary protein induced by LHRH both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, both proteins migrate on 2-D gels in the vicinity of a protein recognized after immunoblotting by antibodies to the heat-shock-70 kDa protein family. The induction of a common protein by estrogen or LHRH could represent a common mechanism by which these hormones facilitate secretion, and by which these hormones interact.