Reproduction

SCHWANTJE, R.; TAUBERT, H.-D.

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250001pmid: 5551715

Summary.Female Wistar rats were made pseudopregnant by electrical stimulation of the uterine cervix and used as models for anovulation. Clomiphene, cyclofenil, epimestrol, and stilboestrol were administered either for 2-day periods at various times of pseudopregnancy, or continuously from Days 3 to 8, or until mating had taken place. All compounds tested stimulated ovulation at certain dose levels, but continuous administration proved to be more effective than the limited treatment. Pregnancies occurred after treatment with all test substances with the exception of clomiphene.

De FAZIO, SALLY R.; KETCHEL, M. M.

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250011pmid: 5551706

Summary.Rabbit antibody to human cervical mucus was used in the immuno-electrophoretic analysis of cervical mucus, seminal plasma and blood serum. Eleven antigens were found in cervical mucus, but no more than nine in any one sample. One post-coital sample of cervical mucus in the pool used to produce the antiserum contained an antigen, thought to be prostatic acid phosphatase, derived from the semen contamination. Three antigens appeared specific for cervical mucus, being absent from seminal plasma and serum. Another two antigens were shared with seminal plasma and serum, two were shared with seminal plasma only, and a further two were shared with serum only.Two of the cervical mucus antigens were identified as immuno-globulin-G and albumin, and another two were believed to be transferrin and α-1 antitrypsin.

DAVIES, A. G.

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250021pmid: 5551716

Summary.Effects of gonadotrophin administration were investigated histologically in the testes of neonatal mice. The hormones used were human pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone (fsh), containing 20% of luteinizing hormone, and human chorionic gonadotrophin (hcg).fsh treatment increased the numbers of nuclei of spermatogonia and of Sertoli-cell precursors per mouse and caused an even greater increase in the volume of eosinophilic intratubular material. It is thought that the greater part of this material was syncytial cytoplasm of the Sertoli-cell precursors.Administration of hcg did not have these effects nor modify the effects of fsh treatment.

HÄRKÖNEN, MATTI; KORMANO, MARTTI

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250029pmid: 4397401

Summary.The concentrations of glycogen, glucose, ATP, glucose-6-phosphate and lactate were studied in normal and cryptorchid rat testes using enzymatic pyridine nucleotide methods. With the exception of ATP, all the substrates were significantly higher in the cryptorchid testes. The decrease of the energy metabolites and the accumulation of lactate were also studied in testes incubated in the absence of O2 at the temperatures of 33·6° C and 36·6° C. The metabolic rate of the incubated organs was estimated in terms of the rate of use of high energy phosphate ( ~ P) calculated from changes in ATP, glucose and glycogen. A good parallelism between hexose utilization and lactate production was observed in both normal and cryptorchid testes. A rapid mobilization of glycogen, suggesting activation of phosphorylase, was observed in incubated cryptorchid testes. The calculated oxygen consumption of cryptorchid testes was about 100% higher than that of the normal testes at the same temperature. It is suggested that the basic metabolic rate of the interstitial tissue is higher than that of the seminiferous tubules.

LINCOLN, G. A.

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250041pmid: 5551717

Summary.The changes associated with puberty were studied in thirty-one red deer stags between 3 months and 3 years old. The majority of deer were born in June.During the first 11 months of life, there was a gradual proliferation of spermatogonia in the seminiferous tubules. From May to October, between 11 and 16 months of age, a marked increase in the size and weight of the testes followed, the content of testosterone also began to rise and spermatogenesis was initiated. Over the same period, the weight of the epididymides, seminal vesicles, ampullae and prostate, and the concentration of seminal fructose increased. The antler pedicles began to develop in May, and antler tissue was evident by August.The testes and accessory glands reached a peak in activity in October at 16 months of age but the development of the secondary sexual characteristics, including growth of the neck mane and 'stag' winter coat and the cleaning of the antlers, was not completed until 2 to 3 months later. Unlike the adult stags in October, the yearlings showed no rutting behaviour.Following this peak in development, the testosterone content of the testes quickly declined to a low level, though spermatogenesis continued at a reduced rate through the winter and spring. Over this period, the weights of the accessory glands declined. In June, at 2 years old, spermatogenesis was arrested, the accessory glands were involuted, and the first set of antlers was cast. This marked the end of the first reproductive cycle; the testes and accessory glands redeveloped in October. In this second cycle, the secondary sexual characteristics developed earlier and some aspects of rutting behaviour occurred.Puberty in the stag was defined as the period from 9 to 15 months of age, from the onset of androgen secretion to the completion of spermatogenesis. These changes were considered similar to the changes which occur each year in the adult in preparation for the breeding season.

LIPTRAP, R. M.; RAESIDE, J. I.

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250055pmid: 4396368

Summary.Urinary levels of DHA and oestrogens were determined in normal, unilaterally and bilaterally cryptorchid boars and in such animals following hemicastration or treatment with hcg. Removal of one testis from normal boars or the abdominal testis from unilaterally cryptorchid boars did not appreciably alter the urinary levels of DHA and oestrogens. Removal of the scrotal testis of unilaterally cryptorchid boars or one abdominal testis of bilaterally cryptorchid boars resulted in a significant drop in urinary steroid values. Except for one boar, DHA returned to within control levels in 2 months while oestrogen values were significantly lower in two animals and significantly higher in one animal at 2 months. hcg treatment caused a highly significant increase in DHA and oestrogen excretion in a normal boar and a unilaterally cryptorchid boar with a scrotal testis remaining after hemicastration. Boars with bilateral cryptorchid testes and a boar with an abdominal testis remaining after hemicastration showed a limited response to hcg injections. The results suggest that the cryptorchid testis of the pig is able to compensate for the loss of the contralateral gonad but the limit of response to gonadotrophin is very much lower and the time of response is slower than that exhibited by the scrotal testis.

RYLE, MARGARET

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250061pmid: 5551718

Summary.Ovaries from 15-day-old mice were cultured with or without fsh and lh for 3 or 6 days. Paired control ovaries were fixed at the time of dissection. The number of follicles in each ovary having at least three layers of granulosa cells was determined, and changes in the follicle population during culture were examined. The diameter of each follicle with at least four layers was measured. fsh stimulated follicle growth throughout the experiment but lh stimulated it only between Day 3 and Day 6. lh significantly increased the proportion of follicles with diameters exceeding 119 μ on Day 6; fsh tended to increase this proportion but its effect was not significant. lh reduced the incidence of pycnotic nuclei in peripheral follicles but fsh had no such effect. It is suggested that lh stimulates follicle growth by stimulating production of an oestrogen which must accumulate to a critical level before becoming effectively mitogenic.

BARR, ARNOLD B.; MOORE, DONALD J.; PAULSEN, C. ALVIN

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250075pmid: 5551719

Summary.Testicular biopsy specimens from fifteen normal adult men were analysed histologically, using Clermont's classification for the germ cell types. After corrections were made for differences in nuclear size and life-span, spermatid/primary spermatocyte ratios ranging from 0·87 to 3·82 (average 2·58) were found. This represents a marked reduction from the theoretical ratio of 4·0 which would be expected. The significance of this attrition rate, or the point at which loss occurs, is not known.

MARCHLEWSKA-KOJ, ANNA

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250081pmid: 5551720

Summary.Fructose was determined in ejaculates of normal and vasectomized male mice, after recovery of the ejaculates from mated females. Approximately 70% of the total fructose remained in the copulatory plug and only 30% was present in the fluid portion of the seminal plasma. When the fluid portion of the ejaculate was left in the uterus for 2 hr without contact with the plug (the uterine horn having been ligated), a statistically significant decrease of fructose occurred in relation to the initial value. When, however, such semen was left in the uterus in contact with the plug, this decrease was counterbalanced by an influx of fructose released from the plug.No clear difference in the decrease of fructose content was found between the fluid portion of ejaculates from normal and vasectomized males after 2 hr in the uterus.

HUNT, C. V.; AVERY, G. B.

doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0250085pmid: 5551721

Summary.Trophoblast grafts were disrupted 5, 8 and 10 days after the transplantation of 3½-day-old fertilized mouse ova beneath the kidney capsule of syngeneic mouse recipients. Cell suspensions or teased preparations of these grafts were stained with the Feulgen technique for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The results of cytophotometric measurements of Feulgen-DNA in individual cell nuclei showed that between 5 and 10 days after grafting, the trophoblast nuclei exhibited massive increases in Feulgen-DNA. Although possible stoichiometric artifacts could not be completely excluded, the results indicated that trophoblast giant-cell formation does involve large increases in nuclear DNA.