Seasonal ovulatory activity exists in tropical Creole female goats and Black Belly ewes subjected to a temperate photoperiod

BACKGROUND: Seasonality of ovulatory activity is observed in European sheep and goat breeds, whereas tropical breeds show almost continuous ovulatory activity. It is not known if these tropical breeds are sensitive or not to temperate photoperiod. This study was therefore designed to determine whether tropical Creole goats and Black-Belly ewes are sensitive to temperate photoperiod. Two groups of adult females in each species, either progeny or directly born from imported embryos, were used and maintained in light-proof rooms under simulated temperate (8 to 16 h of light per day) or tropical (11 – 13 h) photoperiods. Ovulatory activity was determined by blood progesterone assays for more than two years. The experiment lasted 33 months in goats and 25 months in ewes. RESULTS: Marked seasonality of ovulatory activity appeared in the temperate group of Creole female goats. The percentage of female goats experiencing at least one ovulation per month dramatically decreased from May to September for the three years (0%, 27% and 0%, respectively). Tropical female goats demonstrated much less seasonality, as the percentage of goats experiencing at least one ovulation per month never went below 56%. These differences were significant. Both groups of temperate and tropical Black-Belly ewes experienced a marked seasonality in their ovulatory activity, with only a slightly significant difference between groups. The percentage of ewes experiencing at least one ovulation per month dropped dramatically in April and rose again in August (tropical ewes) or September (temperate ewes). The percentage of ewes experiencing at least one ovulation per month never went below 8% and 17% (for tropical and temperate ewes respectively) during the spring and summer months. CONCLUSIONS: An important seasonality in ovulatory activity of tropical Creole goats was observed when females were exposed to a simulated temperate photoperiod. An unexpected finding was that Black-Belly ewes and, to a lesser extent, Creole goats exposed to a simulated tropical photoperiod also showed seasonality in their ovulatory activity. Such results indicate that both species are capable of showing seasonality under the photoperiodic changes of the temperate zone even though they do not originate from these regions

Changes in the 5-HT2(A )receptor system in the pre-mammillary hypothalamus of the ewe are related to regulation of LH pulsatile secretion by an endogenous circannual rhythm

BACKGROUND: We wanted to determine if changes in the expression of serotonin 2A receptor (5HT2(A )receptor) gene in the premammillary hypothalamus are associated with changes in reproductive neuroendocrine status. Thus, we compared 2 groups of ovariectomized-estradiol-treated ewes that expressed high vs low LH pulsatility in two different paradigms (2 groups per paradigm): (a) refractoriness (low LH secretion) or not (high LH secretion) to short days in pineal-intact Ile-de-France ewes (RSD) and (b) endogenous circannual rhythm (ECR) in free-running pinealectomized Suffolk ewes in the active or inactive stage of their reproductive rhythm. RESULTS: In RSD ewes, density of 5HT2(A )receptor mRNA (by in situ hybridization) was significantly higher in the high LH group (25.3 ± 1.4 vs 21.4 ± 1.5 grains/neuron, P < 0.05) and (3)H-Ketanserin binding (a specific radioligand) of the median part of the premammillary hypothalamus tended to be higher in the high group (29.1 ± 4.0 vs 24.6 ± 4.2 fmol/mg tissu-equivalent; P < 0.10). In ECR ewes, density of 5HT2(A )receptor mRNA and (3)H-Ketanserin binding were both significantly higher in the high LH group (20.8 ± 1.6 vs 17.0 ± 1.5 grains/neuron, P < 0.01, and 19.7 ± 5.0 vs 7.4 ± 3.4 fmol/mg tissu-equivalent; P < 0.05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that these higher 5HT2(A )receptor gene expression and binding activity of 5HT2(A )receptor in the premammillary hypothalamus are associated with stimulation of LH pulsatility expressed before the development of refractoriness to short days and prior to the decline of reproductive neuroendocrine activity during expression of the endogenous circannual rhythm

Melatonin patterns in ewes maintained under skeleton or resonance photoperiodic regimens

International audienc

Influence of 2 Br-α-ergocryptine (CB 154) on the secretion of prolactin, LH, FSH and testosterone and on testicular growth in rams subjected to different photoperiods

International audienc

Photoperiodic and melatonin treatments for the control of seasonal reproduction in sheep and goats

International audienc