Investigations in the endocrinology of reproduction

The research papers submitted were published between 1964 and 1980 on the subjects of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH), the hypothalamo-pituitary-ovarian system and artificial control of reproduction in domestic animals, methods of hormone assay and miscellaneous topics. Work was carried out in the Department of Physiology and Environmental Studies,University of Nottingham, in the Department of Physiology,University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. and in the Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Lactation,Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Jouy-en-Josas, France.Chapter 1 contains publications on LH-RH and certain peptides related to LH-RH. These investigations were begun in Dallas in 1966 and have been continued to the present day at Nottingham. Included are papers on the localization of LH-RH within the hypothalamus and the synthesis, biological activity, plasma elimination and tissue degradation of LH-RH and fragments and analogues of the LH-RH molecule.Chapter 2 describes studies on the hypothalamo-pituitary- ovarian systems of female domestic animals. This research was carried out at Nottingham and included is work on the control of the lactational anoestrus of the sow and of gonadotrophin secretion and ovulation in the ewe.Chapter 3 consists of publications on the artificial control of reproduction in domestic animals. Studies on the sow arose from the work on lactational anoestrus described in Chapter 2.In the ewe, the possibility of using synthetic LH-RH for the induction of ovulation during seasonal anoestrus was investigated. The final paper in this chapter is a review of the endocrinology of meat production written at Jouy-en-Josas in 1979.Chapter 4 includes papers on the development and use of methods of hormone assay; pituitary tissue incubation for the assessment of LH-RH and both biological and radioimmunological methods for the gonadotrophins. These techniques have been the basis of much of the work described in other Chapters.Chapter 5 consists of several papers on aspects of endocrinology out of the main streams of the candidate's research