Estrogen regulation of testicular function in the adult ram

During the nonbreeding season (July), three groups of five Dorset x Leicester x Suffolk rams were assessed over a period of 5 days. One group of rams (control) was implanted (sc) with five 5cm empty Silastic capsules (i.d. 3.4mm, o.d. 4.6mm); two other groups, designated as Low-E$ sb2$ and High-E$ sb2$, received five estradiol filled capsules of either 5cm or 10cm, respectively for 4 days. Estradiol treatment elevated serum estradiol concentration about 150% in the Low-E$ sb2$ groups (15.7 $ pm$ 1.3 pg/ml) and 300% in the High-E$ sb2$ groups (26.6 $ pm$ 2.4 pg/ml) compared with controls (6.3 $ pm$ 0.8 pg/ml). In the absence of LH pulsing, mean LH, FSH and testosterone concentrations were all decreased significantly (P $<$.05) with increasing estradiol concentration, while PRL concentration was increased (P $<$.05) by as much as 105%. In the LH-pulsed groups, LH-peak height on day 4 was comparable for all three groups of rams and peak frequency was, as expected, consistently increased to 4 peaks per 6 hours. The increase in mean testosterone concentration (P $<$.05) in all three groups was due to an increase in testosterone baseline concentration and testosterone peak frequency