Wilson S C, Cunningham F J
J Endocrinol. 1980 May;85(2):209-18. doi: 10.1677/joe.0.0850209.
Plasma concentrations of corticosterone and LH were measured in hens in relation to the ovulation of an egg either early or late in a sequence and also in hens injected with gonadal steroids. In hens about to ovulate an egg early in the sequence, the plasma concentration of LH rose at the onset of darkness while levels of corticosterone remained low. As levels of LH fell during the 4 h preceding ovulation, those of corticosterone increased steeply to reach a maximum at about the time of ovulation, which is shortly after dawn. In contrast, in hens about to ovulate an egg late in a sequence, the concentration of LH in plasma fell and that of corticosterone tended to increase during the hours of darkness. During the 7 h preceding ovulation the temporal relationship of LH to corticosterone was similar to that observed before an early ovulation such that levels of corticosterone increased rapidly on the descending slope of the preovulatory LH surge and reached maximum values at the time of oviposition and ovulation. Infections of oestradiol benzoate and testosterone propionate did not alter plasma concentrations of either corticosterone or LH. On the other hand, the injection of progesterone was associated with a rapid fall in levels of corticosterone. It is suggested that progesterone may suppress the pituitary-adrenal system and thus modulate the pattern of corticosterone secretion during the ovulatory cycle.
测定了母鸡血浆中皮质酮和促黄体生成素（LH）的浓度，这些母鸡分别在排卵序列的早期或晚期排卵，同时也测定了注射性腺类固醇的母鸡的相关指标。在即将在排卵序列早期排卵的母鸡中，LH的血浆浓度在天黑时开始上升，而皮质酮水平则保持较低。在排卵前4小时，随着LH水平下降，皮质酮水平急剧上升，在排卵时（黎明后不久）达到最高值。相比之下，在即将在排卵序列晚期排卵的母鸡中，血浆中LH浓度下降，而皮质酮浓度在夜间趋于升高。在排卵前7小时，LH与皮质酮的时间关系与早期排卵前观察到的相似，即皮质酮水平在排卵前LH高峰的下降斜率上迅速升高，并在产卵和排卵时达到最大值。注射苯甲酸雌二醇和丙酸睾酮不会改变皮质酮或LH的血浆浓度。另一方面，注射孕酮会导致皮质酮水平迅速下降。有人认为，孕酮可能会抑制垂体-肾上腺系统，从而调节排卵周期中皮质酮的分泌模式。
