Effects of reciprocal ovary transplantation on reproductive performance of lethal yellow mice (Ay/a; C57BL/6J).
This study was conducted to determine whether reproductive failures in ageing, obese lethal yellow (Ay/a) females are due primarily to defects within Ay/a ovaries or to systemic defects which may operate outside the ovaries. Reciprocal ovary transplantation between control (a/a) and lethal yellow (Ay/a) females provided an experimental system to test the reproductive potential of not only Ay/a ovaries in control (a/a) females but also control (a/a) ovaries in mutant (Ay/a) females. Results on reproductive performance of all four combinations of grafts between Ay/a and a/a mice proved that Ay-induced reproductive failures are not due to intrinsic ovarian lesions but rather to defects operating extrinsically to the ovary. The hypothalamo-pituitary axis is a likely site for this reproductive lesion.
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D010053:Ovary / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012098:Reproduction; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous