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Placental steroids are involved in the late-gestation decrease in gonadotrophin secretion in the ovine fetus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

D.W. Miller
Affiliation:
MRC Reproductive Biology Unit, Centre for Reproductive Biology, 37 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh EH3 9EW, U.K.
A.N. Brooks
Affiliation:
MRC Reproductive Biology Unit, Centre for Reproductive Biology, 37 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh EH3 9EW, U.K.
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Extract

The mid-gestation peak in activity of the fetal gonadotrophic axis is thought to be crucial for normal reproductive development. It is clear that the increase to mid-gestation is a result of the concomitant rise in gonadotrophs (Thomas et al., 1993). The mechanisms responsible for the decrease after mid-gestation are unclear, but may involve feedback from the placental steroids (Challis et al., 1981; Gluckman et al., 1983). The aim was to determine the roles of the placental steroids, progesterone and oestradiol, in the late-gestation decline in fetal gonadotrophins using the oestradiol antagonist ICI 182,780 and the progesterone antagonist RU486.

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Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

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References

Thomas, G.B., McNeilly, A.S., and Brooks, A.N. 1993. Development of gonadotrophs and thyrotrophs in the female foetal sheep pituitary: immunocytochemical localization studies. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 5: 157161.Google Scholar
Challis, J.R.G., et al., 1981. Short-term fluctuations in the concentrations of cortisol and progesterone in fetal plasma, maternal plasma and amniotic fluids from sheep during late pregnancy. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 59: 261267.Google Scholar
Gluckman, P.D., et al., 1983. Hormone ontogeny in the ovine fetus: XIV. The effect of 17B-estradiol infusion on fetal plasma gonadotropins and prolactin and the maturation of sex steroid-dependent negative feedback. Endocrinology 112: 16181623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar