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Effect of limited mating on the corpora lutea in montane voles, Microtus montanus

Conaway (1971) has distinguished 3 basic types of reproductive cycles displayed by nonpregnant female mammals. In the first type (e.g. in some hystricomorph rodents and higher primates), both ovulation and pseudopregnancy, defined as a functional luteal phase in a nonpregnant cycle, occur spontaneously. In animals with the second type of cycle (e.g. cats, rabbits) ovulation is induced and pseudopregnancy is spontaneous; the luteal phase following hormone-induced ovulation is indistinguishable from that following copulation. Rats and mice typify a third type of cycle in that ovulation is spontaneous, but the luteal phase is dependent upon copulatory stimulation. Recently, Milligan (1974, 1975) has reported a fourth variation: in Microtus agrestis low levels of copulatory stimulation induce ovulation, but the resulting corpora lutea (CL) degenerate about the 3rd day after mating, i.e. ovulation and activation of functional CL are dependent on copulation.