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A note on the concentrations of plasma oestradiol-17β and progesterone around the time of puberty in heifers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

R. G. Glencross
Affiliation:
Physiology Department, National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9AT
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Abstract

In heifers, plasma progesterone levels were low (<0·3μg/l) from the 59th to about the 15th day before puberty (defined as the day when oestrus was first detectable by the fern pattern of dried cervical mucus). Plasma oestradiol-17β levels varied randomly within the range 1 to 4 ng/l over the same period, but then showed three peaks of about 6, 9 and 4 ng/l, respectively 8 days before puberty, on the day of puberty and 4 days later. The pre-pubertal oestradiol-17p peak was followed by a short period of elevated progesterone levels. Whether this oestradiol-17β peak induced ovulation is uncertain; it is however clear that a corpus luteum of normal life-span was not formed. The oestradiol-17β peaks on the day of puberty and 4 days later, when progesterone levels were rising rapidly, were typical both in magnitude and duration of those occurring before and after ovulation in post-pubertal oestrous cycles.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1984

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References

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