Short-term pituitary-testicular responses of prepubertal ram XXXX to hemicastration.

@entity71076 @entity251 @entity342 @entity742
To examine the short-term effects of hemicastration on pituitary-gonadal responses, 12 ram @entity742 were anesthetized and hemicastrated at 4 mo of age and killed (n = 4) at 2 (HC2), 7 (HC7), or 14 (HC14) days following surgery. Four intact (INT) rams were killed 14 days following anesthesia. Testis and pituitary weights were similar between HC and INT rams. Serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in HC rams increased within 6 h, peaked at 12 h, and remained elevated above INT levels throughout the study. Overall mean serum @entity251 levels in HC rams were lower than in INT rams for the first 48 h, but were similar by 3 days post-surgery. Pulsatile luteinizing hormone (LH) and @entity251 secretion was suppressed for the first 9.5 h following anesthesia and/or surgery in both HC and INT animals. A single LH pulse and succeeding @entity251 pulse occurred in 10/12 HC and 4/4 INT rams between 10 and 14 h post-surgery, both of which were lower in amplitude in HC than INT animals. However, on Day 7, pulsatile secretory patterns of LH and @entity251 were similar, suggesting compensatory @entity342 secretion had occurred in HC rams. Pituitary LH content was unaffected by hemicastration. In contrast, pituitary FSH content was greater in HC7 and HC14 compared to HC2 and INT animals. Pituitary @entity71076 concentrations were similar in INT, HC7, and HC14 rams, but were slightly reduced in HC2 rams. Neither testicular LH nor FSH receptor concentrations were altered by hemicastration at any time.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
