title: Morphometric and hormonal changes during the chimpanzee menstrual cycle.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sex steroids affect many peripheral tissue sites in female mammals. Receptors for these hormones have been found in skin, fat, and bone. In women, these tissues can show morphological changes during the menstrual cycle that may be directly related to steroid secretion.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study was done on chimpanzees to document morphometric markers associated with these tissues (anogenital swelling volume, skin fold thickness as indicator of subcutaneous fat, bony diameters of mandible, wrist, and elbow) and to compare them with cyclic patterns of estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, gonadotropins, and prolactin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Swelling volume changed significantly over the menstrual cycle. All other morphometric parameters showed variation without statistical significance. Skin folds were thickest during the luteal phase. Bony diameters displayed similar but less distinctive changes. Testosterone correlated positively with diameter sites, inversely with subcutaneous fat. No relationships with either estradiol or progesterone were found. We assume that subcutaneous fat and morphometric bone parameters exhibit cycle-dependent changes that may be caused by changes in steroid secretion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behaviour, Neurobiology and Cognition, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ivo H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Machatschke
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dittami
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wallner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology*; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D011374:Progesterone / Q000097:blood*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone; D011374:Progesterone; D004958:Estradiol