The aim of the present study was to determine whether LH stimulates oxytocin production by adult rat Leydig cells directly or indirectly via testosterone. Purified adult rat Leydig cells were cultured in the presence or absence of 0.1 ng/ml LH or 1, 10 or 100 ng/ml testosterone for 22 h. Culture medium was collected at 2-hourly intervals and assayed for oxytocin and testosterone. In the presence of LH, Leydig cells produced significantly higher levels of both testosterone (basal production 1.4 +/- 0.13 ng, LH-stimulated 4.1 +/- 0.13 ng/10(6) cells per 2 h) and oxytocin (basal production 8.3 +/- 1.2 pg, LH-stimulated 20.2 +/- 1.3 pg/10(6) cells per 2 h). Testosterone also stimulated oxytocin secretion. However, the increase was smaller compared with that seen with LH and was not found to be dose-dependent. Furthermore, testosterone production was only significantly increased by LH during the first 10 h of the 22-h culture period whereas LH stimulated oxytocin production throughout the whole culture period. To further determine the effect of LH on oxytocin production, cultures were performed in the presence of LH and/or 400 microM aminoglutethimide. In the presence of aminoglutethimide both the basal and LH-stimulated production of testosterone was significantly reduced. However, in the same cultures aminoglutethimide did not alter either the basal or LH-stimulated production of oxytocin. These data show that LH does not act via testosterone to stimulate oxytocin production and therefore acts directly or by some alternative indirect mechanism.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)