Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is known to be involved in the central regulation of appetite, sexual behavior, and reproductive function. Whereas central administration of NPY strongly stimulates feeding in satiated animals, diet restriction or other unfavorable metabolic situations, such as diabetes, produce enhanced NPY gene expression and NPY release in the hypothalamus. Numerous studies have indicated that acute central administration of NPY results in various actions on LH secretion in the rat, either stimulatory or inhibitory. We recently demonstrated that chronic infusion of NPY into the lateral ventricle of adult intact female rats profoundly inhibited both the gonadotropic and somatotropic axes, with disruption of estrous cyclicity. Furthermore, we showed that central chronic infusion of NPY delayed sexual maturation in female rats. To analyze the effects of the same type of chronic NPY treatment on the pituitary-testicular axis, 45-day-old Sprague-Dawley male rats were implanted with stainless steel cannulas in the right lateral ventricle. Ten days later, Alzet osmotic minipumps were filled with different NPY solutions, adjusted to deliver 6, 18, or 36 micrograms/day, connected to the intracerebroventricular (icv) cannula, and sc implanted dorsally. The effects of these treatments were evaluated over 7 days. In one case, rats were castrated 5 days after initiation of NPY treatment, and the effect of castration was evaluated 2 days later. Chronic icv infusion of NPY produced the expected dose-related increases in food intake from 33.0 +/- 0.9 (basal) to 53.4 +/- 3.3 g/day (18 micrograms NPY/day) and body weight gain (5.7 +/- 0.7 to 10.5 +/- 1.2 d/day). As in female rats, this orexigenic action of NPY resulted in a significant dose-related decrease in pituitary weight, from 12.4 +/- 0.7 to 9.9 +/- 0.4 mg. The 7-day NPY infusion produced highly significant decreases in seminal vesicle weight (853 +/- 77 to 230 +/- 31 mg) and testis weight (3.82 +/- 0.09 to 3.18 +/- 0.15 g; P = 0.003). Plasma levels of testosterone (231 +/- 71 to 48 +/- 13 ng/dl), LH (20.7 +/- 3.7 to 9.1 +/- 1.2 ng/ml), and FSH (282 +/- 17 to 190 +/- 18 ng/ml) were markedly decreased at the 18 micrograms/day dosage, as also demonstrated for the 36 micrograms/day dosage. None of these effects was observed if vehicle was infused into the lateral ventricle instead of the NPY solution. When bilateral orchidectomy was performed 5 days after initiation of the NPY infusion (18 micrograms/day), the immediate LH and FSH rises usually seen after castration were seriously blunted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)