To establish whether the enhanced LH-RH responsiveness shown by pituitary gonadotrophs at proestrus in vivo could be maintained in vitro, rat anterior pituitary cells were investigated to determine differences in LH release in response to LH-RH through the estrous cycle and with time in primary culture. Pooled or individual anterior pituitary glands from each day of the cycle were dissociated with collagenase, hyaluronidase and Viokase and cultured for from 1 to 4 days. Four-day cultures of proestrous cells did not show differences in LH-RH responsiveness when compared to estrous, diestrous I and diestrous II cells. In addition, proestrous cells did not show differences in LH-RH responsiveness when compared to diestrous II cells after 1, 2, 3 or 4 days of culture; however, over the same 1--4 days of culture, proestrous cells contained higher amounts of LH and released greater quantities of LH into the growth medium than did diestrous II cells. It was also observed that both proestrous and diestrous II cells exhibited significantly greater LH-RH responsiveness after 3 or 4 days of culture than after 1--2 days of culture. These results suggest that the differential LH-RH responsiveness shown by pituitary gonadotrophs at proestrus in vivo is not maintained when pituitary cells are placed in primary culture.