11 - Role of Ovulation in the Regulation of the Estrous Cycle

Abstract

This chapter describes the role of ovulation in the regulation of the estrous cycle. The salient feature of the reproductive system in all vertebrates is the cyclic nature of its processes. There are two underlying necessities that have contributed to the adaptive significance of the biological control system that regulates this periodicity, and have provided the selection pressures, which have resulted in the retention of the elements of this system as a part of the vertebrate organism. First, the male and female gametes, once they mature, are provided with very short life-spans; thus, following an output of gametes, a new production must occur in a periodic fashion. The adaptive significance of the short life-span of essentially naked packages of genetic material seems obvious as a protective device for the species. The second necessity stems from the periodic geophysical forces that form the environment. The chapter discusses a convenient summary of the approximate times of onset and the duration of a number of events of the rat estrous cycle, the theoretical model of the rat estrous cycle, and the preliminary computer simulation of the cycle.