A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the regulatory mechanisms governing the absence of and the initiation of pulsatile pituitary LH secretion during the infantile and prepubertal periods of development in the bull calf. In the first experiment, patterns of hypothalamic GnRH secretion into hypophyseal portal vessels were measured in sixteen Holstein bull calves at 2, 5, 8 and 12 weeks of age. The results of this study correlated the attainment of an hourly rate of pulsatile GnRH release to the onset of prepubertal LH secretion. In the second experiment, nine Holstein bull calves were infused with exogenous GnRH (200 ng) on an hourly basis from 1 to 6 weeks of age. From this experiment, we were able to demonstrate that an hourly rate of pulsatile GnRH release stimulates the age-associated changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary axis necessary for initiating pituitary LH secretion during the transition from the infantile to prepubertal period of development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/277009 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Rodriguez, Rafael Eduardo, 1963- |
| Contributors | Wise, Mark E. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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