The secretion of luteinizing hormone in ewes of Finnish landrace during estrus.

The secretion of luteinizing hormone in ewes of Finnish Landrace during estrus. Acta vet. scand. 1979, 20, 216–223. — Luteinizing hormone immunoreactivity was measured in the venous plasma of four cycling Finnish Landrace sheep during the breeding season in connection with one synchronized estrus and the subsequent one. The ewes were slaughtered after the second estrus to establish the number of ovulations. To determine the LH concentration, a heterologous method of assay was used; this was based on the cross reaction of sheep plasma LH in a human LH radioimmunoassay system. As a result of the investigation, it was found that the peaks of LH were lower during the time of synchronized estrus and that these peaks occurred earlier than in the subsequent estrus. However, the differences were not statistically significant. On account of the limited material, the effect of the occurrence of the LH peak on the number of ovulations could not be established.