In order to ascertain the influence of gonadal steroid hormones on the secretory response of the hypothalamic-hypophyseal luteinizing hormone (LH) axis to acute stress, the effects of four specific stressors on LH release were compared in ovariectomized versus ovariectomized steroid-treated rats. Groups of adult female Copenhagen-Fischer 344 rats were ovariectomized for either 1 or 2 weeks and exposed for specific intervals to one of the following stressors: novel environment, strobe light, restraint, or swim. Additional groups of animals were ovariectomized for 2 weeks and injected with 10 micrograms estradiol benzoate 24 and 48 h prior to exposure to the same stress stimuli. Multiple blood samples were obtained from these and nonstressed experimental controls at specific time points before, during, and after stress exposure. Transfer of 1-week ovariectomized rats to a novel environment, followed by a return to their original quarters 30 min later, resulted in a well-defined pattern of increased LH release. Novel environment stress also stimulated LH release in 2-week ovariectomized rats, as indicated by the comparison of mean LH values from the pre-stress versus post-stress sampling periods by paired test. Strobe light stress, on the other hand, had no effect on circulating LH in 1-week ovariectomized rats, but significantly increased mean post-stress plasma LH levels compared to mean pre-stress values in 2-week ovariectomized rats. While exposure to either 15 min of restraint or 10 min of swim stress had no effect on LH in rats ovariectomized for 1 week, both of these stressors resulted in a marked decline in LH release in 2-week ovariectomized animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)