Oviducal Irritants and Ovulation in the Domestic Fowl

Abstract

A key paper in the literature on neurohumoral control of ovulation in the domestic hen is that by Huston and Nalbandov (1953). According to these authors, “the presence of an irritant, such as a loop of thread, in the magnum portion of the oviduct of laying hens, completely suppresses ovulation in the great majority of treated animals.” The irritant was thought to prevent release of sufficient LH to cause ovulation (“ovulatory peaks”), but apparently did not prevent secretion of basal amounts of LH or secretion of FSH. Confirmation and extension of this work was reported by van Tienhoven (1953).Both of the reports cited have become widely quoted in the literature on avian reproduction and neuroendocrinology, and the experiments on oviducal irritants have played a large role in the development by Nalbandov (1959) of a theory to explain the ovulation cycle in the hen. Nalbandov suggested that the presence of …