Comparative study of the physiology of vitellogenesis in Japanese quail.

1. During a study of vitellogenesis in the Japanese quail, male or female quail were given, intramuscularly, one to three doses of estradiol-17 beta (16 mumol/100 g body weight). 2. In treated males, the plasma concentrations of protein-bound P (PBP, a measure of the phosphate groups in vitellogenin), Ca, and total protein fluctuated in unison. 3. Packed cell volume (PCV) values varied approx, inversely as the PBP concentrations. 4. Maxima of approx. 0.85 mg PBP/ml occurred six, five, and four days after the primary, secondary, and tertiary injections. Following each maximum, the PBP concentrations declined rapidly to the 0.004 mg/ml level found in the plasma of untreated male quail. 5. During periods of elevated PBP levels, Ca and PBP were present in equimolar quantities. 6. When laying female quail were given a single injection of estradiol, the PBP concentration rose from 0.12 to 0.97 mg/ml. 7. PCV values for both male and female estrogen-treated quail decreased from approx. 0.50 to 0.30. The decreases in PCV values were attributed to increases in plasma volume as measured using 125I-labelled serum albumin. No marked change in total erythrocyte mass was measured using 51CrO2-(4) as the cell label. 8. Perhaps the decrease in plasma serum albumin concentrations reported by some investigators for estrogen-treated animals is due to dilution rather than to repression of serum albumin synthesis.