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Ovarian follicular dynamics were studied during the breeding season, before and after ovulation in mink. Nulliparous female mink were stimulated to ovulate with an injection of 4 μg GnRH. Ovaries from three animals were collected on days 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 after hormone treatment. A second dose of GnRH was administered on day 8 and ovaries were collected from three animals on day 9. Corpora lutea and follicles were identified in histological sections and follicles were classified by stage of development, healthy versus atretic, and by diameter. Preovulatory follicles (diameter 0.7–1.0 mm) were present in the ovaries of all animals on day 0 and these responded to GnRH treatment by ovulating. A synchronized wave of follicular development occurred following ovulation. Changes in follicle populations indicated that follicles are recruited from the small antral follicle class (0.2–0.4 mm) into the 0.4–0.6 mm class, with the first defined changes occurring between days 2 and 4. From the recruited group, a smaller cohort of follicles is selected to become the dominant follicles between days 4 and 6, and these acquire the ability to respond to a stimulus which induces ovulation at diameters of > 0.7 mm. The ovaries of unmated mink also contained substantial numbers of large, degenerating, luteinized, unruptured follicles. These degenerating, luteinized follicles are considered to represent the demise of large follicles that failed to receive an ovulatory stimulus.
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Summary. Immature female mink, 8 weeks of age in July, were treated with implants releasing melatonin. Mating, which induced ovulation, took place during the normal breeding season in the following March. Circulating prolactin and progesterone concentrations did not undergo the expected gestational increases, and no embryos implanted. A similar absence of gestational changes in prolactin and progesterone values ensued in primiparous mink treated with the melatonin implant 2–3 days after the second of 2 matings. Administration of exogenous sheep prolactin (0·5 mg/day) by minipump induced precocious elevation of progesterone concentrations in mated mink. Prolactin administration overcame the effects of melatonin, in that the corpora lutea were activated and embryos implanted, but exogenous prolactin resulted in degeneration of implanted embryos both in the presence and absence of chronic melatonin. The results suggest that melatonin has a single effect in alteration of gestation in mink; i.e. the prevention of prolactin secretion. Hyperprolactinaemia may inhibit embryo development in this species.
Keywords: melatonin; prolactin; mink; delayed implantation
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Summary. Five pony mares were blood sampled during late pregnancy, foaling and early lactation. An homologous assay for horse prolactin was used to measure plasma prolactin concentrations in these samples. Regular estimates of cyclic activity were also made. Plasma prolactin concentrations rose markedly in the last week of pregnancy and remained high although variable in early lactation, before declining to basal levels by 1–2 months post partum. All mares showed a post-partum oestrus 7·0 ± 0·9 days after parturition. One mare whose foal died shortly after birth showed a rapid decline in plasma prolactin values after death of the foal and an early oestrous period (4 days after parturition). The pattern of prolactin changes reported for the mare are in agreement with those reported for other mammalian species.