Biol Reprod Lalor Postdoctoral Fellowships -- Application Deadline January 15, 2009
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow My Folders
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gorman, M. R.
Right arrow Articles by Dark, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gorman, M. R.
Right arrow Articles by Dark, J.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Gorman, M. R.
Right arrow Articles by Dark, J.

Biology of Reproduction, Vol 51, 873-878, Copyright © 1994 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

ARTICLES

Melatonin influences sex-specific prenatal mortality in meadow voles

MR Gorman, MH Ferkin and J Dark
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley 94720.

Meadow voles exhibit seasonal changes in litter size, ovulation rates, and prenatal mortality. To investigate the proximate bases of seasonal changes in reproductive effort, adult female voles, maintained in long photoperiods (14 h of light/day), were injected daily with 10 micrograms melatonin 2 h before light offset to extend the duration of the nighttime melatonin pulse. At parturition the number, sex, and weight of offspring were assessed. The number of ovarian corpora lutea (CL), an index of potential litter size, was used to calculate rates of prenatal survival (i.e., pups per CL). Prenatal survival rates were reduced in female but not male pups of dams that had been injected before blastocyst implantation (Days 1-6 of pregnancy) with melatonin as compared with saline. Melatonin injections initiated after blastocyst implantation (Days 7-21 of pregnancy) did not affect prenatal survival, nor were birth weights of pups affected by either pre- or postimplantation melatonin treatment. We conclude that sex- specific prenatal survival is a labile feature of vole reproduction that may be under proximate control of photoperiod and melatonin before blastocyst implantation.




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1994 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction.