The adipose tissue-derived hormone leptin may be a primary mediator linking nutritional status and reproduction. The present study used the leptin-resistant obese female Zucker rat to investigate whether leptin signalling is required for normal pulsatile luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion and/or generation of the LH surge. For the pulsatile LH secretion study, an indwelling atrial catheter was implanted and a low dose of oestrogen given as a subcutaneous implant to lean and obese ovariectomized (OVX) Zucker rats. One week following OVX, blood samples were collected every 10 min for 3 h during the morning. Plasma LH concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay. For the LH surge study, lean and obese OVX rats were given a high dose of oestrogen as a subcutaneous implant. Two days later, rats were given progesterone at 09.00 h to induce a proestrus-like LH surge. Blood samples were collected from an indwelling atrial catheter throughout that and the following day and plasma LH concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay. LH pulse amplitude and mean LH secretion were profoundly attenuated in obese Zucker rats compared with lean littermates, whereas LH pulse frequency was not significantly different between phenotypes. The opioid receptor antagonist naloxone did not affect the pattern of pulsatile LH secretion in obese rats, suggesting that leptin does not exert its facilitatory effects on LH secretion through an opioidergic pathway. Both lean and obese rats showed characteristic steroid-induced LH surges. It therefore appears that a leptin signal is required for generation of a normal pattern of pulsatile LH secretion, but is not a necessary component of the steroid-induced LH surge.