Abstract
In birds, seasonal reproduction is regulated by day length, with long days in the spring activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and reproductive behaviors. The photoreceptors mediating this process remain unknown, but recently, the premammillary nucleus (PMM) of the hypothalamus has been implicated as the site of photoperiodic signaling in turkeys. We performed electrolytic lesions of the PMM to elucidate its role in the photoactivation and maintenance of egg production in female turkeys. Our results show that ablation of the PMM does not alter the normal lay cycle. No differences were found between lesioned birds and sham controls in the latency to lay following photostimulation, nor in subsequent egg production over a period of 29 weeks. No differences in the incidence of gonadal regression were found, indicating that the PMM is not essential for the termination of breeding. We conclude that any role of the PMM in photoperiodic regulation, if it exists, is redundant with other components of the system.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-20-2018
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190274
Funding Information
This work was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2014-67012-21608 to AFM, https://nifa.usda.gov/.
Repository Citation
Moore, Ashli F.; Cassone, Vincent M.; Alloway, Kevin D.; and Bartell, Paul A., "The Premammillary Nucleus of the Hypothalamus Is Not Necessary for Photoperiodic Timekeeping in Female Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)" (2018). Biology Faculty Publications. 141.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/biology_facpub/141
Notes/Citation Information
Published in PLOS ONE, v. 13, no. 2, e0190274, p. 1-16.
© 2018 Moore et al.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.