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EFFECT OF ACTH ON REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF IMMATURE FEMALE NORTHERN GRASSHOPPER MICE (ONYCHOMYS LEUCOGASTER)

Division of Earth and Life Sciences, University of Texas, San Antonio, Texas 78285, and University of Arkansas Medical Center, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201, U.S.A.

(Received 16th April 1974)

Impaired reproductive function among adults and delayed sexual maturation in juveniles are associated with high population densities in a variety of small rodent species (Christian, 1968, 1971). Increased activity of the pituitary adrenocortical axis is postulated as a mechanism regulating population growth (Christian, Lloyd & Davis, 1965). Evidence linking increases in ACTH and plasma corticoids with gonadal dysfunction under laboratory conditions has been obtained for Mus musculus (Christian, 1964), Peromyscus leucopus (Pasley & Christian, 1972), Microtus pennsylvanicus (Pasley & Christian, 1971) and Rattus norvegicus (Desjardins & Ewing, 1971). The present study was initiated to examine the effects of ACTH on the reproductive organs of female northern grasshopper mice (Onychomys leucogaster), a predatory species characterized by low population densities under natural conditions (Egoscue,