The Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology on Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jan 16;7:40749. doi: 10.1038/srep40749.
Luteinizing hormone (LH) is one of the main pituitary hormones that regulate ovulation, however its role has not been studied in giant panda. In this study, we developed an ELISA method for the detection of panda urinary LH. We analyzed urinary hormones of 24 female pandas during 36 breeding periods, we found females could easily be impregnated if the first mating occurred within 10 hours after LH peak. We also found the patterns of the ratios of urinary LH and progestagen in pandas that bred and successfully gave birth were significantly different from those that bred but failed to give birth. These data was the first to provide the urinary LH profiles during the estrous and gestational periods in pandas, and demonstrated that the appearance of the urinary LH peak indicated the timing of ovulation. The LH detection together with estrogen analysis makes the window for successful mating narrower than previously reported. Moreover, detection of urinary LH and progestagen can be used to discriminate between pregnancies and pseudopregnancies/miscarriages in the species. Thus, our findings suggest that LH not only plays a critical role in regulating ovulation but also plays an important role in maintaining pregnancy in the giant panda.
促黄体生成素（LH）是调节排卵的主要垂体激素之一，但在大熊猫中其作用尚未得到研究。在这项研究中，我们开发了一种用于检测熊猫尿液 LH 的 ELISA 方法。我们分析了 24 只雌性大熊猫在 36 个繁殖期的尿液激素，发现如果第一次交配发生在 LH 峰值后 10 小时内，雌性大熊猫很容易受孕。我们还发现，成功繁殖并分娩的大熊猫与繁殖但未能分娩的大熊猫的尿液 LH 和孕激素比值模式有显著差异。这些数据首次提供了大熊猫发情和妊娠期的尿液 LH 谱，并表明尿液 LH 峰值的出现表明了排卵的时间。LH 检测与雌激素分析相结合，使成功交配的窗口期比之前报道的更窄。此外，尿液 LH 和孕激素的检测可用于区分该物种的妊娠和假性妊娠/流产。因此，我们的研究结果表明，LH 不仅在调节排卵中起关键作用，而且在维持大熊猫妊娠中也起重要作用。
