title: The association between basal body temperature, sexual swelling and urinary gonadal hormone levels in the menstrual cycle of the chimpanzee.
abstract: Basal body temperature (BBT) was measured continuously by radiotelemetry throughout 14 chimpanzee menstrual cycles and correlated with daily observations of the sexual skin swelling. A biphasic BBT shift from a pre-nadir mean of 36-12 degrees C to a post-nadir mean of 36-67 degrees C was observed in 12 cycles. The temperature nadir showed a close temporal relationship with detumescence of the sexual skin swelling (an early luteal event), but the rate of temperature rise after the nadir was variable. In 3 normal cycles studied, the temperature nadir occurred the day after a urinary oestrone peak, but there was no consistent temporal association between BBT rise and pregnanediol increment. Progesterone secretion is therefore probably not the sole determinant of the BBT shift; the changing oestrogen/progestin ratio may be the more important factor regulating body temperature during the luteal phase.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature; D004970:Estrone / Q000652:urine*; D005260:Female; D008598:Menstruation; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000502:physiology*; D011276:Pregnanediol / Q000652:urine*; D014621:Vagina / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004970:Estrone; D011276:Pregnanediol