Research

Effect of litter separation on 24-hour rhythmicity of plasma prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone levels in lactating rabbit does

Pilar Cano¹ , Vanessa Jiménez¹ , Maria P Álvarez² , Mario Alvariño³ , Daniel P Cardinali⁴ and Ana I Esquifino¹

¹  Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular III, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

²  Departamento de Biología Celular, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

³  Departamento de Producción Animal, E.T.S.I. Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

⁴  Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina

author email corresponding author email

Journal of Circadian Rhythms 2005, 3:9doi:10.1186/1740-3391-3-9

Published:	2 June 2005

Abstract

Background

This work describes the effect of a 48-h litter separation on 24-h patterns of plasma prolactin, FSH and LH concentration in female lactating rabbits kept under a 16:8 light-dark photoperiod (lights on at 0800 h).

Methods

Groups of 6–7 female lactating rabbits maintained with their litters or separated from them for 48 h were killed by decapitation on day 11 post-partum, at 6 different time points throughout a 24-h cycle, starting at 0900 h. Plasma levels of prolactin, FSH and LH were measured by specific double antibody radio-immunoassays.

Results

Plasma level of prolactin in control and separated does changed in a similar way throughout the day, showing two maxima, at 0500–0900 h and at 1700–2100 h, respectively. Litter separation significantly augmented plasma FSH and LH and disrupted their 24-h rhythmicity.

Conclusion

Since previous studies had shown that litter separation for short periods of time augmented sexual receptivity and fertility of the doe, the changes in FSH and LH reported may influence the massive release of gonadotropin releasing hormone, LH and FSH triggered by mating or artificial insemination in litter-separated mothers.