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Development in the cyclic hamster of refractoriness to the superovulatory action of anti-LH serum

Summary. Hamsters injected s.c. on the day of ovulation (Day 1) with 100 µl equine anti-bovine LH serum ovulated 28 eggs at the end of a 5-day cycle. When a second injection of anti-LH serum was administered 4–93 days later, the animals did not superovulate and had normal 4-day cycles. Injection of 100 µl normal rabbit serum (NRS) on Day 1 followed 14 days later by anti-LH serum resulted in the ovulation of 32 ova whereas a priming injection of 100 µl normal horse serum (NHS) followed by anti-LH serum resulted in the ovulation of only 18 ova. When hamsters were injected on Day 1 with anti-LH serum, NHS or NRS and then with anti-LH serum in the 4th cycle, high titres of free antibodies to LH were present on Days 2–4 only in the animals treated with NRS; these hamsters ovulated a mean of 35 ova.

These experiments suggest that the hamster rapidly forms antibodies to equine immunoglobulins, thus preventing a second injection of anti-LH serum from inducing superovulation.