Abstract
IT has recently been found1 that ferrets, normally anœstrous during winter, become œstrous in January and February within 3–4 weeks after electrolytic lesions have been made in the anterior hypothalamus. The hypothesis was advanced that some hypothalamic mechanism may normally inhibit the pituitary secretion of follicle-stimulating hormone in sexually quiescent individuals, for example, (a) during the anœstrum of seasonally breeding animals and (b) during infancy. Interference with such a mechanism by destruction of hypothalamic tissue might promote the secretion of follicle-stimulating hormone and so induce sexual activity. The suggestion that inhibition of follicle-stimulating hormone secretion is normally exerted during infancy has now been tested on a series of immature rats.
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Donovan, B. T., and van der Werff ten Bosch, J. J., J. Physiol., 132, 57 P (1956).
Weinberger, L. M., and Grant, F. C., Arch. Int. Med., 67, 762 (1941).
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DONOVAN, B., VAN DER WERFF TEN BOSCH, J. Precocious Puberty in Rats with Hypothalamic Lesions. Nature 178, 745 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/178745a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/178745a0
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