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BLOOD PROLACTIN IN THE MALE LAMB FROM BIRTH TO PUBERTY

Station de Physiologie de la Reproduction, I.N.R.A., 37380 Nouzilly, France

(Received 8th July 1974)

Prolactin has been detected in the peripheral blood plasma of adult male mammals. Basic levels of 20 to 30 ng/ml plasma have been detected in the male rat (Amenori, Chen & Meites, 1970). These basic levels can reach 50 ng/ml in the ram (Davis, Reichert & Niswender, 1971), 80 to 200 ng/ml in the male goat (Hart, 1973; Buttle, 1974) and 30 to 40 ng/ml in the bull (Oxender, Hafs & Ingalls, 1972). The rôle of prolactin in the male, however, is not well known.

This paper deals with the evolution of prolactin in the peripheral blood plasma of nine ram lambs (Île de France) during the first 17 weeks after birth. The period studied covered the onset of spermatogenesis (Courot, 1962). The animals, born at the end of September, were bred in natural conditions and