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Biology of Reproduction, Vol 25, 560-567, Copyright © 1981 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

Seasonal Variation in Reproductive Hormones of Rhesus Monkeys: Anovulatory and Short Luteal Phase Menstrual Cycles

R. A. DAILEY 1, and J. D. NEILL 1

1 Department of Physiology, School of Medicine Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322


Rhesus monkeys show a period of low fertility and decreased ovulation during the spring and summer months. In the present study, menstrual events and reproductive hormone concentrations associated with this period were examined to determine if secretion of gonadotropins was lower in the anovulatory cycle and if the level of gonadotropin was related to secretion of estrogen.

A maximum of 90 mature rhesus monkeys was observed during portions of the period from January 1973 through August 1976 for the occurrence of menstruation and for the frequency of irregular lengths of menstrual cycles as related to the winter (October through March) and the summer (April through September). The onset of summer was marked by a decline in the fraction of the colony menstruating in April and May each year. Although lengths of menstrual cycles were more irregular during the summer than during the winter months, this variability was less pronounced in the second and third years of study.

Two types of irregular reproductive hormonal patterns were found in menstrual cycles during the summer. One type, the anovulatory cycle, was characterized by low concentrations of estrogen in serum compared with ovulatory cycles, by an absence of surges of gonadotropic hormone, and by undetectable levels of progesterone. The other type, the short luteal phase cycle, was characterized by a limited interval of secretion of progesterone (3.2 ± 0.5 days) and luteal phases of 8.1 ± 0.3 days. These intervals were shorter than the respective intervals observed in ovulatory cycles (13.1 ± 0.8 and 16.4 ± 0.8 days). Although gonadotropic hormones during the follicular and "luteal" phases of both types of irregular cycles appeared to be secreted at levels somewhat higher than those observed in ovulatory cycles when measured by radioimmunoassay, luteinizing hormone concentrations were similar when determined by the rat interstitial cell testosterone bioassay.

Thirteen monkeys were injected during the summer with estradiol benzoate to determine if the absence of surges of gonadotropic hormone was due to decreased sensitivity of the hypothalamopituitary axis. Ten animals secreted surges of luteinizing hormone and nine of these also secreted surges of follicle stimulating hormone. These results, as well as the low concentrations of estrogen, suggest that insufficient estrogen is secreted to evoke surges of gonadotropins in anovulatory cycles.

 Submitted on April 8, 1981
Accepted on June 9, 1981




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