EFFECT OF UNDERFEEDING, HEMIGONADECTOMY, SEX AND CYPROTERONE ACETATE ON SERUM FSH LEVELS IN IMMATURE RATS
in ReproductionWarner-Lambert Research Institute, Morris Plains, New Jersey 07950, U.S.A. (Received 13th February 1975)
Dietary regimens have been shown to influence the secretion of gonadotrophins (Mulinos & Pomerantz, 1940; Leathem, 1958; Srebnik & Nelson, 1963), the changes occurring as the result of decreased hypothalamic content of FSH-RF and LH-RF (Piacsek & Meites, 1967) or FSH-RF activity (Negro-Vilar et al., 1971). Root & Russ (1972) demonstrated that fasting reduced serum FSH levels in intact male rats whereas Howland (1971a) reported that no change occurred in fasted female rats. Root & Russ (1972) and Ibrahim & Howland (1972) found that castration increased serum FSH levels, but the release of FSH was inhibited in the females and increased in the males when they were also fasted. A similar increase in FSH secretion in both sexes has been shown many times (Benson et al., 1969; Ibrahim & Howland, 1972; Howland & Skinner, 1973; Stewart et
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