title: The effect of tamoxifen on the reproductive traits in White Leghorn cockerels.
abstract: Fifty White Leghorn male chicks were divided into five equal groups of ten chicks each. Beginning at two weeks of age they were injected on each alternate day as follows: corn oil as a vehicle control or 0.5, 1.0, 5.0, or 10.0 mg tamoxifen/kg/b.wt. The whole experimental period lasted until twelve weeks of age. The two lowest doses of tamoxifen (TAM) enhanced comb growth, while the highest dose suppressed it. The two lowest doses of TAM also caused an earlier increase in sexual activity of the chicks, and precocious production of semen. At nine weeks of age the 0.5 and 1.0 mg doses of TAM increased plasma testosterone to a level three times higher than in the controls. This effect was not observed with the highest dose of TAM. At 12 weeks of age the chicks treated with 1 mg TAM had larger testes than the controls and produced three times more sperm per ejaculation. At this stage chicks treated with the highest dose of tamoxifen produced less sperm than the control and had smaller testes and adenohypophyses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rozenboim
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dgany
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Robinzon
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arnon
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Snapir
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D004542:Ejaculation / Q000187:drug effects; D006400:Hematocrit; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D013076:Sperm Count; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D013629:Tamoxifen; D013739:Testosterone