Control of gonadotrophin secretion in the female tammar wallaby (macropus eugenii).

A heterologous radioimmunoassay for tammar wallaby FSH, using an ovine FSH antiserum and a human FSH tracer, is described. With this assay concentrations of FSH in plasma of intact female tammars are not detectable except rarely at the time of oestrus. However the assay has proved useful in studies of the control of gonadotrophin secretion in intact male and in ovariectomized tammars. In the female tammar, concentrations of LH and FSH in plasma rose within a few days of bilateral ovariectomy. Ovariectomized tammars respond to a luteinizing hormone releasing hormone stimulus (10 microgram, i.v.) with a prompt release of LH, peak levels of 16.9 +/- 1.4 ng NIH-LH-S19/ml plasma (n = 12) being reached within 25 min of injection. Concentrations of LH and FSH in plasma were reduced to preoperative values in ovariectomized tammars when lutein tissue developed in ovarian cortex grafts autotransplanted under the pouch skin. Ovarian interstitial tissue was not necessary for this effect. After lutectomy during quiescence, the female tammar ovulates again in about 14 days. Injections of progesterone (700 microgram/kg per day, i.m.) for 7 days after the operation did not delay this response, but follicular development and ovulation appeared to be retarded in animals given oestradiol-17 beta (5 microgram/kg per day, i.m.) with or without progesterone.