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Circadian Organization and Female Reproductive Cyclicity

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Aging and Biological Rhythms

Part of the book series: Advances in experimental medicine and biology ((AEMB,volume 108))

Abstract

One of the most challenging problems facing reproductive physiologists is the determination of the mechanisms regulating cyclic reproductive events. This is made especially obvious when we consider the types and numbers of reproductive cycles demonstrable in a single species. For example, in reproductively mature hamsters ovulation occurs with unerring precision every four days. This four-day, or quadradian, estrous cycle is superimposed on an annual rhythm of reproductive readiness. Thus, in a hamster exposed to natural environmental photoperiod, reproduction is confined to the months of spring and summer during which approximately 10-12 ova are ovulated every four days. This cycle continues unless interrupted by pregnancy, pseudo-pregnancy or by the decreasing day-lengths of late summer and autumn. For the hamster, therefore, reproduction can be viewed as a series of cyclic events the periodicity of which varies from months to hours. Central to all of these must be one or more timers, or oscillators, whose function(s) it is to synchronize these cycles within each organism and among organisms of the population, guaranteeing for the population that reproductive efforts will be successful.

Work supported in part by NSF Research Grant PCM-04039.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physiology Section School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, 19711, USA

    Milton H. Stetson

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  1. Milton H. Stetson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Veterans Administration Center, Bay Pines, Florida, USA

    Harvey V. Samis Jr.

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Harvey V. Samis Jr.

  3. University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA

    Salvatore Capobianco

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Stetson, M.H. (1978). Circadian Organization and Female Reproductive Cyclicity. In: Samis, H.V., Capobianco, S. (eds) Aging and Biological Rhythms. Advances in experimental medicine and biology, vol 108. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4460-6_11

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